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LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 
TO MACREADY 



' LETTERS 

OF 

BULWER-LYTTON TO MACREADY 

With an Introduction by 
Brander Matthews j 



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PRIVATELY PRINTED 
THE CARTERET BOOK CLUB 

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY 



1911 



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Copyright , 1911, by The Carteret Book Club 



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INTRODUCTION 



INTRODUCTION 

i 

T y HE English drama had its sudden out- 
Jlowering in the spacious days of Elizabeth; 
its vigour lessened a little, though its violence 
increased, under James and Charles; it sprang 
again into luxuriant life during the Restora- 
tion; and it did not die down until after Sheri- 
dan and Goldsmith. It became feebler toward 
the end of the eighteenth century, to flicker 
almost to extinction during the middle of the 
next hundred years. And in the final years of 
the nineteenth century it revived again, to re- 
veal itself as a vivacious rival of the novel. Prob- 
ably we do not yet appreciate the full merit of 
the plays written in the past two-score years 
by the late Sir W. S. Gilbert and Sir A. W. 
Pinero, Mr. Barrie and Mr. Shaw. But the 
energetic vitality which we can discover in the 
drama of our language from 1875 £01910, and 
which is equally evident to-day in the younger 
playwrights in both the British and the Ameri- 
can branches of English literature, makes us per- 
ceive all the more sharply the fiat emptiness of 
the English-speaking stage in the half-century 
which stretches from 1825 to 1875. 

There were many playhouses in Great Brit- 

l vii ^ 



INTRODUCTION 

ain and in the United States; and the attrac- 
tiveness of the theater was as potent as ever. 
There were many actors of varied accomplish- 
ment and of indisputable distinction. But there 
were no dramatists worthy of these actors and 
responding to the need of these theaters. The 
popular plays which filled the theaters were lack- 
ing in literary merit; and the compositions which 
the men of letters now and again cast into dra- 
matic form were not really plays; they were only 
dramatic poems , which failed to attract the broad 
public whenever they chanced to get themselves 
performed. In other words, the playwrights were 
not poets and the poets were not playwrights. 
There was a most unhappy divorce between the 
drama and literature. 

For this extraordinary condition there are 
several explanations. First of all, the period of 
the decadence of the drama was the period of the 
expansion of the novel, due to the overwhelming 
vogue of Scott. Until the sweeping success of the 
fV aver ley novels, the prose-romance had been 
considered inferior to the drama; and the earlier 
novelists, Fielding more particularly , had ad- 
ventured themselves first in the drama and had 
turned to prose-fiction as a second choice. The 
pecuniary rewards of play writing were larger 
than those of novel-writing; and popular plays 

C viii 3 



INTRODUCTION 



were as widely read then as popular novels are 
now.' But the novel is an easier form than the 
play; it demands less technical dexterity; it is 
less difficult to get before the public; and pub- 
lishers of books are more in number and less arro- 
gant in attitude than managers of theaters. 

Secondly, the English dramatist was then 
unexpectedly subjected to an unfair competition 
with stolen goods, which instantly cut down the 
pecuniary reward he had been accustomed to re- 
ceive. Late in the eighteenth century, Kotzebue 
composed numberless pieces in German, filled 
with a perfervid emotionalism to which the Eng- 
lish playgoer gladly responded. And early in 
the nineteenth century, Scribe, and the crowd 
of collaborators that encompassed him about, 
composed numberless plays in French with in- 
geniously contrived stories, as effective in one 
language as in another. There was then no in- 
ternational stage-right; and the dramas of any 
German or French playwright could be trans- 
lated and adapted and performed without the 
permission of the original author and without 
any payment to him. So long as the managers 
of the British and American theaters could avail 
themselves of these foreign plays, and as long as 
audiences filled their theaters to witness the per- 
formance of these imported pieces, there was no 



INTRODUCTION 



desire and no necessity to pay a proper price to 
the original dramatists of the English language. 

As a result of these two conditions, the as- 
piring young authors of our language who 
might have become dramatists turned novelists. 
Charles Reade,for example, was frank in de- 
claring that he believed himself to be by native 
gift a dramatist, and that he had been forced 
into prose-fiction by bad laws — that is, by the 
absence of international stage-right. And it 
may be noted that the revival of our dramatic 
literature in the past two-score years must be 
ascribed in some measure to the waning vogue 
of the novel, but very largely to the security due 
to the proper protection now afforded by the 
laws of every civilized country to the authors 
of every other country. 

This legal recognition of the rights of the 
foreign dramatist has also had another far- 
reaching effect. When his play is now produced 
in another language, the author insists that it 
shall be translated as literally as possible, with 
as little mangling as may be; but fifty years 
ago, when a play could be stolen, it was gen- 
erally adapted and localized by a perverse 
wrenching of its motives, a French story be- 
ing arbitrarily transmogrified into an English 
story. When adaptations of this sort were the 



INTRODUCTION 

staple of the stage, the theater could not fail to 
be a realm of fantastic unreality, and audiences 
lost the taste for logic in either the action or the 
characters. Here we can discover one explana- 
tion for the artificiality which characterized the 
English drama in the midyears of the nine- 
teenth century, — an artificiality demoralizing 
alike to authors and to audiences. Whenever an 
unlikely event happened people were tempted to 
say, "How like a play! "And in the pieces they 
were in the habit of beholding in the theater 
they were rarely tempted to say, "How like real 
lifer' 

ii 
In the half-century from 1825 to 1875 there 
was only one man of letters of an indisputable 
prominence who won a position equally beyond 
question as a playwright; this was Sir Edward 
Bulwer-Lytton, afterward Lord Lytton. The 
only other man of letters who succeeded in the 
theater was Charles Reade; and but one of his 
comedies held the stage for long, — "Masks and 
Faces," written in collaboration with Tom Tay- 
lor and promptly turned into the novel of "Peg 
Woffington." Dickens had also a fleeting suc- 
cess in his dramatization of "No Thorough- 
fare/' a picturesque melodrama, written in col- 



INTRODUCTION 



labor ation with Wilkie Collins. Certain of the 
Victorian poets looked upon the stage-door as 
the portal of the Temple of Fortune and as the 
gate of the Hall of Fame; but even though they 
might manage to get inside, no one of them suc- 
ceeded in establishing himself in the theater. 

Tennyson, for one, ardently aspired after 
stage-success. His dramatic poems are often 
classed as closet-dramas, that is, as poems in 
dialogue and in dramatic form, not intended for 
actual performance. But this classification is 
unwarranted in Tennyson's case, since he did 
intend all his plays to be performed, and since 
he was intensely anxious that they should win 
approval in the theater. Indeed, they were all 
of them acted at one time or another; and yet 
only one of them, "Becket," achieved even a 
modest success, due in this instance to the adroit 
revision of Sir Henry Irving. Browning, for 
another, was ambitious for the laurels of the 
dramatist. "Strafford" and "A Blot in the 
'Scutcheon" were written with an eye single 
to the stage, but without rewarding the poefs 
effort. The obvious re a son for the failure of Ten- 
nyson and Browning in the actual theater is 
that they lacked the native gift of play-making , 
and that they did not take the trouble to spy out 
the secrets of the craft and to master its easy 



INTRODUCTION 

mysteries, — as Victor Hugo had done in France 
with startling success, although the French 
lyrist had as little of the native gift of the born 
playwright as either Tennyson or Browning. 

That Bulwer-Lytton was inferior in poetic 
power to Tennyson and Browning admits of no 
question. But he was ready to serve an appren- 
ticeship to the stage and to take infinite pains 
to master its methods. As a result of this will- 
ingness to accept the conditions of the theater 
of his own time, Bulwer-Lytton achieved more 
than once the triumph which was denied to 
Tennyson and Browning. The letters now first 
printed in the present volume disclose his desire 
to avail himself of the expert aid of the fore- 
most actor of the day. It is greatly to be re- 
gretted that we have not also the letters which 
Macready wrote to Bulwer-Lytton. To read 
only that half of the correspondence which we 
now have is a little like listening to a conversa- 
tion by telephone; we can hear only one of the 
speakers and we have to guess at what the other 
has said. 

It is true that Bulwer-Lytton s letters are 
more significant and more interesting than Mac- 
ready's could have been. They are more illu- 
minative; and they reveal their author in an 
unexpected light. He appears before us now no 

C xiii 3 



INTRODUCTION 

longer haughty , self -sufficient, and a little scorn- 
ful. He is disclosed as a humble seeker for ex- 
pert advice, modestly eager to profit by every hint 
that Macready can give, and ready to rewrite, 
to recast, to modify, or to amplify in accordance 
with the actor s fruitful suggestions. By the aid 
of these letters we are put in a position to see 
that Macready was almost a collaborator in the 
composition of "Richelieu" and "Money," just 
as Coquelin was almost a collaborator in "Cy- 
rano de Bergerac" and "Chantecler." 

The dramatist has often written his plays 
with his chief actor in mind. We are told that 
this is true of Sophocles; we cannot doubt that 
it is true of Shakspere, who provided Burbage 
with a superb succession of tragic parts, while 
he devised certain of his more humorous charac- 
ters for Kemp; and we know that it is true of 
Moliere, who kept his whole company in view 
when he was composing a comedy, carefully ad- 
justing every part to the player who was toper- 
form it. There could be no more interesting epis- 
tolary find than the discovery of the correspond- 
ence between Moliere and La Grange — unless 
it was that between Shakspere and Burbage. 

Part of the deference which we see Bulwer- 
Lytton paying to Macready may be due to the 
exalted position which the actor held in his 

C xiv 3 



INTRODUCTION 

profession, and part may be due also to the fact 
that the tragedian-manager was twelve years 
older than the novelist-playwright. Macready 
was born in 1793 and Bulwer-Lytton in 1805. 
It was in 1838 and 1840 that they worked to- 
gether in producing "Richelieu" and "Money" 
The earlier play was designed specially to sup- 
port the actor s arduous venture as manager of 
Drury Lane; and the second was written for 
him after he had relinquished management. It 
was Bulwer-Lytton who presided at the banquet 
given to Macready in 1851 when he retiredfrom 
the active exercise of his profession, an occa- 
sion made memorable by Tennyson s noble sonnet 
of farewell. Although Bulwer-Lytton was the 
younger of the two, he died three months before 
Macready, both of them departing this life early 
in 1873. 

in 
In the incomplete biography of the author writ- 
ten by his son, the second Lord Lytton ( "Owen 
Meredith"), we are told that he was early in- 
terested in the drama. Tet he did not turn to the 
stage until after he had made himself one of the 
most popular of novelists. He wrote at least nine 
plays in all. "The Duchess de la Valliere" was 
produced in 1836, without success. Macready 
C xv J 



INTRODUCTION 

appeared as the hero, but according to the corre- 
spondence that follows, he seems to have been 
consulted only casually. The three plays com- 
posed with the advice and consent of Macready 
are "The Lady of Lyons" (1838), "Riche- 
lieu" (1839), and "Money" ( 1840). Another 
drama, "The Sea-Captain," produced without 
success in 1839, was revived in 1868 as "The 
Rightful Heir," and again without success. 
"Not so Bad as Medium; or Many Sides to a 
Character," was acted in 1851 by Dickens and 
other notable amateurs. "Darnley" was per- 
formed in 1 8 78 , after its author's death ; the un- 
acted "Walpole; or Every Man has his Price" 
was published in 1870, and "Junius; or, The 
Household Gods," was acted in 1885. It may 
be recorded that "Darnley" had the honour of 
performance at the Burg Theater in Vienna, 
and that both "Money" and "Richelieu" have 
been presented in French versions in Paris. 

The perusal of this catalogue makes clear 
the fact that Bulwer-Lytton did not succeed as 
a playwright except when he was working in 
conjunction with Macready. The plays to which 
Macready did not give his invaluable aid failed 
and are forgotten , while three of the five pieces 
which the actor helped to get into effective shape 
succeeded at once when he produced them, and 
I xvi ] 



INTRODUCTION 

survived on the stage for more than half a cen- 
tury after he had withdrawn from it. Indeed, 
there is a certain significance in the fact that 
"Money" was chosen for the special perform- 
ance by all the leading actors of London before 
the German Emperor in May, 1911, a little 
before the coronation of George V . 

Of all the Victorian authors, Bulwer-Lytton 
was the most multifarious. He aspired to suc- 
cess in almost every province of the domain of 
literature. He came forward in turn as essay- 
ist, historian, orator, translator, biographer, 
lyrist, satirist, novelist, and dramatist. He was 
as versatile as he was clever, and as ambitious 
as he was ingenious. In scarcely any one of the 
fields in which he exhibited his varied accom- 
plishment did he fail altogether; yet it is only 
as a novelist and as a dramatist that he suc- 
ceeded in imposing himself upon his contempo- 
raries. There are still spectators for his plays 
and readers for his romances, although the dust 
has long lain thick upon his poems and his sat- 
ires, his essays and his histories. To point this 
out is to indicate clearly what his real quality 
was. He was a born story-teller. He had the gift 
of narrative. He could present interesting char- 
acters in interesting situations. The characters 
might be forced or they might be flimsy; but the 

C xvii 3 



INTRODUCTION 

situations were ingenious, unexpected, enter- 
taining, and effective. He sought to arouse the 
emotions of surprise rather than the emotions 
of recognition — to borrow Henry James's illu- 
minating distinction. When we recall one of his 
novels or one of his plays, we find ourselves re- 
membering what his characters do rather than 
what they are. 

His plays have the same qualities that his 
romances have. They reveal his abundant inven- 
tion and his fertility in expedient. They are 
manifestations of his essential gift of story- 
telling, — a native endowment even more impor- 
tant to the dramatist than to the novelist. A 
novel can please the public, and it can survive 
by sheer power of character-creation, supported 
by only a minimum of story; but a play must 
have action. In the study we may be amused by 
what the characters are, but on the stage we 
demand that they do something, that they desire 
something intensely, and that they present be- 
fore us the conflict of contending volitions. They 
must know what they want, and they must strive 
to attain it. Not a few of the dramatists have 
been primarily and essentially story-tellers on 
the stage. It is by their story-telling faculty , for 
example, rather than by their poetry or their 
psychology, that Beaumont and Fletcher won 

C xviii 3 



INTRODUCTION 



the favour of the Jacobean playgoers. This 
necessity for a story sufficient to arouse and to 
sustain the interest of the spectators has been 
recognized by all the analysts of dramatic art, 
beginning with Aristotle, who was emphatic in 
declaring the supreme importance of the action 
itself. 

But story alone is not sufficient in the theater, 
unless it is so treated as to constitute a plot 
appealing to the playgoers by its progressive ac- 
tion, by its succession of situations, by its com- 
bination of contrast and climax. And it is here 
that Macready was able to afford invaluable 
assistance to Bulwer-Lytton. The novelist con- 
ceived his story, and the actor aided him to sup- 
port it by a plot likely to move the massed spec- 
tators in the theater. The difference between a 
good story, as invented by a novelist, and a good 
plot, fit for the purpose of the dramatist, can 
be seized at once by the comparison of the origi- 
nal suggestion of "Richelieu," as outlined by 
Bulwer-Lytton in a letter, with the plot of the 
play which Macready finally produced. The 
author obviously intended the part of Morillac, 
afterward called De Mauprat,for Macready 
himself; that is to say, he did not see that Riche- 
lieu had to be the central figure in the piece. Tet 
it is plain enough that "Richelieu" as a play 
I xix ] 



INTRODUCTION 



exists only for the sake of Richelieu as a part. 
In its original form the drama might have been 
as ineffective as " The Duchess de la Valliere," 
little more than a romanticist play of love and 
adventure. By bringing to the front the figure 
of the wily cardinal, and by focussing attention 
upon him, the piece took on at once a larger as- 
pect and gained an ampler historic background. 
It was lifted up to a loftier significance, audit 
attained almost to the boldness of a tragedy of 
statecraft. 

Thanks to Macready's technical advice, 
"Richelieu" became what it is; and in conse- 
quence of the actor's assistance " The Lady of 
Lyons " and "Money" were equally successful. 
This success was not fleeting; and the three 
plays kept the stage for threescore years and 
ten. It is true that they no longer please as they 
did at first. The taste of the play going public 
has changed. The realistic movement has tri- 
umphed, and the laurels of the romanticists are 
sadly faded. Nowadays we ask for more sin- 
cerity than Bulwer-Lytton has provided, for 
more veracity, for more actuality. 

When we read his plays today in the study, 
or when we see them acted on the stage, we are 
amused by their artificiality, and we are an- 
noyed by their extravagance. We cannot fail to 



INTRODUCTION 

perceive now that their heroes and their heroines 
are not living men and women, but only effective 
parts for actors and actresses; they seem to us 
stagy and tricky . We Jail to find the accent of 
real passion in their utterances, and the expres- 
sion of their emotions sometimes strikes us as 
perilously close to inflated rodomontade and to 
flamboyant bombast. Their prettiest speeches no 
longer ring true; they are cracked and false; 
they are rhetoric rather than poetry. We have 
advanced to a point where we discover more vi- 
tality, more reality, more poetry [in the larger 
sense of the word) in a single act of " The Sec- 
ond Mrs. Tanqueray, y> of "Candida," or of 
"What Every Woman Knows," than we can 
now find in all of Bulwer-Lyttons dramas 
heaped together. None the less ought we to be 
able also to see that " The Lady of Lyons" and 
"Richelieu" and "Money" are truly representa- 
tive of the best that the drama of our language 
had to show in the middle years of the nineteenth 
century. 

Brander Matthews. 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 
TO MACREADY 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 
TO MACREADY 



Albany, 
Monday, 

March, 1836. 

My dear Sir: 

On receiving your kind letter, I sent for M r 
Morris, & after some conversation he agreed 
to write to you. He has this day called on me, 
much disturbed by not receiving an answer. 
After as frank a communication as I could 
obtain with him, he seemed to imagine that 
the salary of 30^ per week contingent on the 
success of the play was the utmost he could 
afford — calculating on the probability of play- 
ing the piece [Ta Valliere] every night. I make 
his engagement with you a sine qua non; that 
settled, my own terms I shall conclude to his 
satisfaction. Now I know well that this salary 
is not adequate to your merits or celebrity & I 
have only therefore to request that on no con- 
sideration of personal courtesy or kindness to 

I s 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

me, you will suffer it to influence you to the 
prejudice of other arrangements & the detri- 
ment of your own interests. — Perhaps you will 
be kind eno' to relieve the agitated mind of M r 
Morris by a Yes or No — as little influenced as 
possible by your favourable inclinations toward 
myself. 

Hoping to hear from you au plutot, believe 
me 

My dear Sir 

Very faith 7 Yours 

E. L. Bulwer. 



ii 



Knebworth Park, 
Stevenage, Herts. 
March 25, 1836. 

My dear Sir : 

I cannot say how obliged & touched I am by 
your kindness, nor how completely I under- 
stand the liberal and delicate spirit which per- 
vades it. 

I conclude now that the affair is settled, 
as M. r Morris himself wishes the Play £La 

[4] 



TO MACREADY 

ValliereJ to appear the ist of June. Other de- 
tails you can settle with him. 

Perhaps you will, by & by, inform me how 
long your other and more valuable engage- 
ments will allow you to remain at the Hay- 
market, should the play succeed. 

If sufficiently encouraged by results, I shall 
seriously think of Dramatic composition & hope 
in a grander subject & the exhibition of loftier 
passions to embody a character more suited to 
your powers than Bragelone. I suppose in the 
casting of the Parts, Louis will fall to F. Vin- 
ing, & I think, with training, Webster might 
refine himself into at least the best Lauzun we 
could get. 

Very sincerely & gratefully yrs 

E. L. Bulwer. 

March 26, 1836. 
Knebworth Park, 
Stevenage, Herts. 



Ill 

May, 1836. 



My dear Sir : 

It is not for me certainly to interfere with your 

C53 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

arrangements, which I am sure are for the best. 
But I think it perhaps as well to say that I 
have met with 5 families who, balancing what 
play to go to, were decided by the Domino 
Noir — agst their first inclination towards Cov. 
Garden. 2 of these were for next Wednesday. 
— I cannot but think that despite the abridge- 
ment, the said Domino will be injurious. 

I see you have a play of Talfourd's in prep- 
aration, & for this (whatever the success of 
mine [Xa Valliere^] — were I to give my name 
it would necessarily curtail and interfere with 
its run ) I think the announcement would be 
now useless. 

Y rs truly 

E. L. B. 



IV 



Knebworth Park, 
Stevenage, Herts. 
Nov!: 6, 1836. 

My dear Sir: 

I enclose you the Epilogue I propose for Far- 
ren if he take Montespan [Ta Valliere]. I think 
it has some points that may be successful on the 

CO 



TO MACREADY 

stage. — There are two allusions of which I am 
doubtful: one the two lines in which Spring 
Rice is mentioned by name, the other about the 
Duke of Brunswick & the Balloon. I mean as 
to the taste of them. 

Whenever you write about the rehearsals, 
you can let me know your opinion on these 
matters. 

I hope the Epilogue may go toward 
strengthening the part of Montespan & there- 
fore hasten to send it. 

I have also written a prologue, but it is a 
very commonplace affair. I thought it might 
do well just to allude to the copyright Law, 
but I have not done it neatly in the prologue, 
& I shall keep the creature by me for a few 
days to see whether he will grow up any hand- 
somer — which ugly babies sometimes do. 

I heartily wish you could have given my 
Mother & myself the pleasure of your com- 
pany here for a day or two. But I suppose 
just at this time it would be impossible. 

I was extremely gratified by your kind note, 
which was most encouraging. 

Ever yr obliged 

E. L. Bulwer. 

P. S. When you write please to return the 
Epilogue with any suggestions. 

C7n 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 



Knebworth, 

Stevenage, Herts. 
Nov. 7, 1836. 

My dear Sir: 

1 send you something which I propose as a sub- 
stitute for the " horns. "I think the idea is comic 
without the farce of the Scene [Xa Valliere^] as 
it now stands. But I am a little in doubt whether 
it may not be un peu tropfort to make Lauzun 
pay his envoy to Montespan's wife with her 
Husband's jewels — I mean not tropfort in it- 
self, but trop fort for the starch of the audi- 
ence. Pray consider and let me know: if it does 
— the Old Lady must be drest with due re- 
gard to the comic. Will you also see if there are 
any five or six lines that could be omitted, as 
it is a little too long to supply the place of the 

2 pages to be cancelled in the printed copies. If 
nothing can be well omitted, it does not signify 
much, as in that case I must cancel 5 pages 
instead of 2, to gain the blank part of the last 
page of the Act. 

Please when you have read, to return it — 
with any suggestions. I will then return you 
a copy for the Stage and have it printed in the 

CO 



TO MACREADY 

meanwhile. Excuse all this trouble. — The idea 
is amusing enough, but I fear I have not done 
as much as I might with the Execution. 

Ever yrs truly obliged & faithfully 

E. L. B. 



VI 



Knebworth, 
Nov!; 8, 1836. 

My dear Sir: 

I have again to trouble you. Having received, 
today, a letter from Farren which seems likely 
to disconcert all our arrangements. — In it he 
says that on seeing the play [Xa Valliere] he 
never could have had the slightest hesitation 
as to the part he should fix on — viz; de Lau- 
zun. He then proceeds to dwell on what he con- 
ceives the spirit of the character, & concludes 
with saying: "it is the only part in the play I 
could act with justice to you — or your humble 
servant W m Farren \" — I have only one con- 
solation in thinking, from the bearing of his 
letter, that even without my most unlucky & 
rash note, he would have equally pitched upon 
Lauzun. 

CO 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

What is to be done? — can I be of any use 
writing, & in that case what shall I say, what 
points insist upon? — I hope it will be managed. 
But probably ere this you have heard Far- 
ren's choice, tho' I hasten to apprise you of the 
contretemps. 

Y rs most truly 

E. L. Bulwer. 



VII 



Knebworth, 

Stevenage, Herts. 
Nov. 9, 1836. 

My dear Sir: 

By the enclosed notes you will see I do all 
in my power to correct the first faux pas of 
writing to Farren, & I have as earnestly, yet 
as civilly, as I can, pressed on him the part of 
Montespan. I have adopted your hint as to the 
threat of withdrawing La Valliere. If you like 
the notes, please to seal & send them. You 
can give Osbaldiston the one for him when 
you see him. Farren's can go by the two penny 
Post. For the rest I leave a carte blanche 
entirely in your hands. Whatever you do — 

c 10 ^ 



TO MACREADY 

either in omitting Farren altogether, or even, 
if you judge right, withdrawing the Play ( tho' 
that would be awkward) — will be entirely 
approved by me. — If my presence is neces- 
sary in town, I can come on two days' notice. 
But I think my note to Farren will do at least 
as much as seeing him would do. — Could the 
matter be compromised by Farren's taking 
the part of Montespan at first & Lauzun here- 
after ? This as you like. Or I would promise 
— if LaValliere succeed — to write him a thor- 
oughly effective & prominent part in some fu- 
ture play. In that I will do all I can to smooth 
the obstacles. I agree with you that Farren 
could not fight with Bragelone,& thought that 
must be altered if he took that part. Fighting 
with Farren would be burlesque. The scene 
with LaValliere he might do better. — But we 
had better dismiss all thought of the possibil- 
ity of his doing anything but Montespan, tho' 
without piquing his self love by considering 
him unfit for Lauzun, & putting him in as good 
humour as we can. 

Y rs ever 

E. L. B. 

P.S. Thanks to your kindness in saving me 
already from all the annoyances I have been 
brought to consider ignominious with acting 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

a play. I cannot — despite Farren — agree yet 
with Smollet or Le Sage. 



VIII 

Dec. 1836. 

My dear Sir: 

I send you a copy of La Valliere. Is there any 
thing you would object to in the advertise- 
ment that follows the preface? I do not let it 
be printed till you have seen it. As Bunn gives 
out, I hear, that he refused the play, I thought 
something of the kind necessary. But I am not 
quite pleased with the thing I have drawn 
up. I have managed with the Publishers, to 
print La Valliere, & Cromwell when altered 
separately, & am thus enabled, without much 
loss, to keep back the Publication of La V. till 
the day of performance provided it be within 
3 weeks or a month at farthest. 

I have now only to repeat the thrice-told 
tale of my thanks for all your kindness. — I 
only wish I had been an Achilles that you 
had brought to the War. 

Y r f Ever E. L. B. 

C 1* 3 



TO MACREADY 

I expect a stormy party ag? me the first night. 

P. S. If you could suggest any verbal altera- 
tions in the last scene, they can be done. I am 
just leaving town, but a line to the Albany will 
find me. 

Shall any copies be sent to the reviews the 
week before performance, or shall all be kept 
back ? 



IX 



1836. 

My dear Sir: 

I send you the prologue & epilogue [Xa Val- 
liere]. The printers are waiting eagerly for 
them; & therefore if your better tact can sug- 
gest any verbal amendments, I will have them 
effect d now; on hearing from you. Can you say 
whether I may depend on the play being pro- 
duced Wednesday because of alio wing the pub- 
lishers to complete their arrangements ? When 
are the rehearsals ? 

Yours most truly, 

E. L.B. 

C is 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

The copies for the stage will be sent to M' Os- 
baldiston to-morrow Evening & I shall send 
you one also — the vanished of Montespan be- 
ing altered for the ruptured, &c. I have rewrit- 
ten the Prologue & think it may do. 



Albany, 

Tuesday, 

1836. 

My dear Sir: 

I have received your kind note. What you pro- 
pose in the second act is already done. What 
you propose in the fourth I am about. 

Now for the first Act. The intermediate 
Scene required to break the suddenness of 
the transition ( which suddenness I acknow- 
ledge) is attended with great difficulty — not 
to incur the same suddenness. Two scenes 
only occur to me, one between Bragelone & 
the mother — or one between Bragelone & the 
King — if the last, Bragelone must not disclose 
his love, which is incompatible with the sub- 
sequent conduct of the Play. Should neither 



TO MACREADY 

of these please you, can you suggest any domi- 
nant emotion or passion to call forth? I do 
not see my way clearly to strong effect — I 
don't know, in fact, what to make the talkers 
say ! any hints would be very acceptable. Now 
to the grand difficulty of Act 5. After much 
consideration I am not able to persuade my- 
self to the introduction of the King in the scene 
of the taking the Veil. Not that I care about 
the Historical truth. But I do not think the 
more sacred Law of the Probabilities would 
allow the evident breach of the Probable — 
in Louis delaying so long his interference — 
knowing by the Presence of the Queen & 
publicity of the occasion — the very day of the 
ceremony. Either he would come before, or 
I must prepare the way for him by painting 
his struggles in a separate Scene which the 
limits of the play w? not allow. I fear too 
that the audience could not get over the Pub- 
licity of so great an assemblage & so solemn 
a scene, to an interview that should be so 
private. Louis would naturally ask ( if he did 
come ) to see her in another room. — Moreover, 
the effect is taken from the dread repose of 
the Ceremony, & perhaps — if Louis's grief 
were powerfully painted — the sympathies 
would be diverted to him from Bragelone & 

c 153 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

La V. Should we therefore defer his parting 

interview with LaV., we might do it thus: 

Scene ist as you suggest — Montespan, Lau- 

zun, &c. 

Scene 2. Chateau. Bragelone & La Valliere & 

his exclamations over La V. when insensible. 

Then we might introduce the King seeking 

her at the Chateau. 

The next scene — the exterior of the Convent, 

Lauzun & Montespan. 

Last scene as it stands. 

Or else 
Instead of seeking her at the Chateau there 
might be a scene before she takes the veil 
— of a cell in the Convent — andthe King com- 
ing to her — followed by Scene the last. I have 
thought of another alteration or addition that 
might doubtless be affecting in itself — as it 
would fall in your hands. But I fear it would 
take from the sterner points of Bragelone's 
character, and mar the harmony of the De- 
nouement. However, I mention it at present 
merely as a suggestion — Between the last 
interview of Bragelone & La Valliere and the 
Convent scene — Suppose that we introduce 
one of a burial ground in view of the convent 
& a gravedigger employed at a grave. — 
Bragelone — ill and declining — purchases that 

C 16 3 



TO MACREADY 

grave which is directly in front of the Convent 
windows. — Then, instead of ending the Play 
with the Present Ceremonial, to follow that 
scene by one of Bragelone's Death by this 
grave — as if he had only survived to fulfill 
a duty, & had no further business with life. 
By curtailments as to the Queen & King 



XI 



Albany, 

Jan. 9, 1837, 
Sunday. 

My dear Sir : 

There is one point in the last words you say 
in La Valliere which have been so generally 
mentioned to me, that I venture to name it to 
you. The two words — " Heaven bless her" — 
might be rendered more striking by the least 
alteration that might convey a moral or clap- 
trap to the audience, & I suggest, therefore, 
that it should run thus : 

Madame La Valliere as at present : "Yes." 

The action \ Bragelone : "Accept O 

signifying the I Heaven Earth's worthiest offering — a 
blessing J repentant heart ! " 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

This, which is only the addition of one line, 
will I think make a more complete and satis- 
factory impression on the whole audience and 
seem "to point the moral." Having made this 
suggestion, I leave its consideration to you. 

In your new scene occur these words, 
"Heaven is less merciful" — suppose we get 
rid of the additional Heaven by substituting 
"Fate." 

Forster tells me the Sunday papers were 
more favourable than could be expected — that 
the"Observer,"commentingon the Saturday's 
performance, even augurs a long run. 

Ever most gratefully y? 

E. L. B. 



XII 



Albany, 

Jany 10, 1837. 

My dear Sir: 

In the second Act instead of "Lord of Hosts" 

perhaps it will be better to say, "Merciful 

Heavens ;" it makes the same metre & is more 

safe. 

C 18 3 



TO MACREADY 

To-night, I fancy & am given to understand, 
will decide whether La Valliere is to be with- 
drawn at once or not. In the former case allow 
me to say that my deepest regret will be that 
it did not do more justice both to your wonder- 
ful acting & to your most friendly services. 
For the rest I must say with the murdered 
Lauzun: 

"My future calls me back 
To rarer schemes" — 

or content myself with parodying the lines of 
a greater man : 

"A double sorrow waits my luckless lot, 
My play is damned — and William Farren not." 

Tout a vous 

E. L. Bulwer. 



XIII 

March 25, 1837. 

My dear Sir: 

I trust that you are quite recovered from your 
long & severe indisposition. I heard yesterday 
from our friend d'Aguilar, who speaks in rap- 
ture of your acting in Bragelone & who was 

c 193 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

also pleased with the play. I wish to know 
whether there is any chance of its again ap- 
pearing at Cov. Garden. I hear from Forster 
that there is some hitch as toFarren& Vanden- 
hoff. Now that the neck of the run is broken, 
I do not think their loss very serious. I leave 
this, however, to your judgement. For my own 
part I am very little curious about it. I have 
written to M. r Osbaldistone a short line merely 
to inquire his intention. 

Y r . s most truly 

E. L. Bulwer. 



XIV 



Albany, 

April 7, 1837. 

I am extremely obliged to you, my dear Sir, 
for your kind letter, which I delayed answer- 
ing in the hope that I might hear from M. r Os- 
baldistone, announcing a definite decision re- 
pecting La Valliere. I have not yet done so, but 
conclude he declines it. I need not say how 
much I have felt your kindness throughout — 

1 20 ^ 



TO MACREADY 

and my regret now is that I was unable to se- 
cure to your genius a longer triumph — greater 
for the time it could not be. I have heard many 
Opinions of La Valliere — I never heard but 
one of M. r Macready's Bragelone. 

Y r . s Ever most truly grateful 

E. L. Bulwer. 



XV 



[Private and Confidential^ 



8 Charles St., 
Berkeley Sq., 
1837. 



My dear Sir: 

Tell me frankly — Do you really wish for the 
hazardous experiment of my assistance? I 
admire so much the stand you are making & 
I sympathize so much with your struggle, that 
if I really thought I could be of service, you 
might command me at once. I have been con- 
sidering deeply the elements of Dramatic art, 
and I think I see the secret. But I may be mis- 
taken — nothing more probable. 

However, if you sincerely and thoroughly 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

desire it, I will make the experiment. — And 
submit it to you — Act by Act — as it proceeds. 
I am aware that in this case, to be of use to 
you I ought to go to work soon. If you wish 
it, I will name the time — as soon after Xmas 
as you like when you wish the Ms. and you 
shall have it. But before you answer let me 
impress this upon you. Waive all compliment 
— if you think the chances are that I should 
not succeed, it is better for you not to try and 
much better for me. I must suspend undertak- 
ings of moment and value — which I would 
delightedly do to serve you and the Drama — 
but not, I own, merely from restless curiosity, 
or the speculations of that tempting adven- 
turer — Vanity. Secondly, are you sure that 
you shall continue your enterprise beyond 
Xmas ? Is it not too severe a task ? Were you 
not Manager, I would not be a second time 
Dramatist. If these questions should — as I pre- 
dict — be not answered quite favourably — for 
I know I may trust to your candour — accept 
the will for the Deed. But if otherwise, tell 
me which you prefer, Comedy or Tragedy. I 
think the former in itself a safer speculation, 
but where are the Actors? — Whatever sub- 
ject I select, you may depend on domestic in- 
terest and determined concentration up to the 



TO MACREADY 

close. This letter, as the attempt to which it 
refers would be — is strictly confidential. 
Wishing you all success — believe me, 
Most truly y r . s 

E. L. B. 

Don't answer this till you are quite at leisure. 



XVI 

February, 1838. 

My dear Sir: 

You will excuse my observing that it may be 
well to leave M? Clifford the lighter points I 
added to the part — unless she prove unequal 
to them in rehearsal. I do not think they re- 
quire much skill in delivery & they round and 
polish the composition £Lady of Lyons]. 

Another thing — can you give Miss Faucit 
any instructions to speak more clearly, to let 
her voice travel out of her throat? For she was 
perfectly inaudible in Cordelia. It is a great 

pity. 

Pardon this. 

Y r . s truly , T „ 

J E. L. B. 

C *3 ] 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

P. S. I shall probably hear from you on Friday, 
the result of what I cannot see. 



XVII 



Monday, 

March, 1838. 

My dear Macready: 

With pleasure on Saturday at six. — Just as 
you please about Forster. I have no ideas 
to communicate with regard to myself. But 
wished to suggest to you an opera, that you 
might make a National hit. 

In haste, 

y: 

E. L.B. 



XVIII 



Charles St., 

March 22, 1838. 

My dear Macready: 

I am fully sensible of the generosity of your 

C 24 3 



TO MACREADY 

proposal £to make a payment on account of 
Lady of Lyons J. But our compact was not of an 
ordinary nature, and on consideration, you will 
see that it is impossible to lower it into a pe- 
cuniary arrangement. It was a compact based 
upon feelings worthy of the Art, which in our 
several lines we desired to serve — let me add 
that it was worthy of ourselves. On your side 
was a zeal for my reputation — on mine a sym- 
pathy with your cause. Can the feelings each 
of us experienced in success, ever be reduced 
into a matter of pounds & shillings? 

I do not return this money to you — you, per- 
sonally, have no concern with it — I return it 
as a Contribution toward the Expences of an 
attempt, in which as an English author and a 
lover of Art I have as deep an interest as 
yourself, & the risks of which never ought to 
have fallen upon one individual. 

Do not imagine me guilty of the arrogant 
vanity of supposing that I confer a favour. I 
know that my effort has been of no pecuniary 
profit to yourself. The most it could do was, 
perhaps, to lighten losses at a period when luck 
ran strong against us. And fear not that you 
have not already overrequited me. The bal- 
ance between us leaves the obligation on my 
side. I gave you but a fortnight, of time I 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

should not have otherwise employed to advan- 
tage — you gave me a victory over enemies, 
and restored me to confidence in myself. — 
Neither money nor any other kind of remunera- 
tion which money purchases, can I accept — or 
you propose. My guerdon is the boast to have 
served, not as a Mercenary but a volunteer, 
in an enterprise that will long be memorable 
in the Literary History of my time. I will not 
sell my Waterloo Medal. 

I trust & I believe that you will triumph 
eventually over all obstacles, & that at the end 
of this Season, you will feel encouraged to a 
new Campaign in which the hazards may be 
less and the rewards greater. If then, either on 
your own part, or that of others, you ask me 
again to tempt Gods & Columns, I will not 
scruple to talk to you of Business. But now my 
confidence in the Nature of your own pride 
convinces me that you will sympathize with 
mine. 

Believe me, my dear Macready, 
Y' sincere well-wisher & obliged friend 

E. L. Bulwer. 



C 26 3 



TO MACREADY 

XIX 

March 28, 1838. 

Many thanks to you, my dear Macready, for 
your most kind & generous letter — which 
pays me a thousandfold for all my good in- 
tentions, & small exertions. 

May I ask you to direct & send by the earli- 
est 2 d . post the inclosed letter to Miss Marti- 
neau, whose address I know not — it touches 
the Copyright Bill. 

Ever, my dear Macready, 
Your sincere admirer & cordial friend 

E. L. Bulwer. 



xx 

March 31, 1838. 

My dear Macready: 

I came to town purposely to attend the dinner 
yesterday — but was so poorly w 7 ith the dis- 
abling complaint in my head, that I was quite 
unequal to going. 

I postponed sending an excuse thinking to 

c 27 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

the last moment, I might get better, which I 
sometimes do suddenly. 

But all in vain & I am at last reluctantly 
obliged to remain at home. 

I am very sorry to hear you, too, have been 
unwell, but trust you are now recovered, & 
that your dinner went off well. 

I shall be happy whenever it suits you, to 
consult as to the best mode of meeting the 
present dramatic difficulties. 

I have long been of opinion that a subscrip- 
tion Company might be got up to start a The- 
atre & elect you Manager — & if you think 
this, should be glad to cooperate in starting 
it — or if there is anything else in which I 
can practically assist in restoring your career, 
pray command me. 

Y T . Evr 

E. L. B. 



XXI 



Note : This letter, preserved in the Dyce and Fors- 
ter Libraries, was printed by J. Fitzgerald Molloy 
in his essay on Lord Lytton's Plays in his book, 
Famous Plays, ' ' published by Ward and Downey. 
London, 1886. 

E>8l 



TO MACREADY 

It is reprinted here to complete the story of 
' 'Richelieu." 



September, 1838. 

My dear Macready: 

I have thought of a subject. The story full of 
incident and interest. It is to this effect. In the 
time of Louis XIII. The Chevalier de Maril- 
lac is the wittiest and bravest gentleman, cele- 
brated for his extravagant valour and his en- 
thusiasm for enjoyment; but in his most mirth- 
ful moments a dark cloud comes over him at 
one name — the name of Richelieu. He con- 
fides to his friend Cinq Mars the reason, viz., 
he had once entered into a conspiracy against 
Richelieu; Richelieu discovered and sent for 
him. "Chevalier de Marillac/' said he, "I do 
not desire to shed your blood on the scaffold, 
but you must die. Here is a command on the 
frontier; fall in battle/' He went to the post, 
but met glory, and not death. Richelieu, re- 
viewing the troops, found him still living, and 
said," Remember, the sword isover your head. 
I take your parole to appear before me once 
a quarter. You can still find death. I will give 
you time for it." Hence his extravagant val- 
our ; hence his desire to make the most of life. 

c 29 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

While making this confidence to Cinq Mars, 
he is sent for by Richelieu. He goes as to death. 
Richelieu receives him sternly, reminds him of 
his long delay, upbraids him for his profligate 
life, etc. Marillac answers with mingled wit 
and nobleness ; and at last, instead of senten- 
cing him to death, Richelieu tells him that 
he has qualities that make him wish to attach 
him to himself, and that he will marry him to 
a girl with a great dowry, and give him high 
office at court. He must marry directly. Maril- 
lac goes out enchanted. 

Now, Richelieu's motive is this : Louis XIII 
has fallen in love with this girl, Louise de la 
Porte, and wishes to make her his mistress. 
All the King's mistresses have hitherto op- 
posed Richelieu. He is resolved that the King 
shall have no more. He will have no rival with 
the King. He therefore resolves to marry her 
to Marillac, whose life is in his power, whom 
he can hold in command, whom he believes 
to be too noble to suffer the adulterous con- 
nection. 

Marillac is then introduced, just married, 
with high appointments and large dowry, the 
girl beautiful, when, on his wedding-day, Cinq 
Mars tells him that the King loves his wife. His 
rage and despair — conceives himself duped. 

r so 3 



TO MACREADY 

Scene with the girl, in which he recoils from 
her. Suddenly three knocks at the door. He 
is sent for by the King, and despatched to a 
distance; the bride, not wived, is summoned 
to court. 

Marillac, all pride and wrath, and casting 
all upon Richelieu, agrees to conspire against 
the Cardinal's life. The fortress where Riche- 
lieu lodges is, garrisoned with the friends of 
the conspirators. Just as he has agreed, he re- 
ceived an anonymous letter telling him that 
his wife is at Chantilly ; that she will sleep in 
the chamber of the Montmorencies ; that Louis 
means to enter the room that night; that if 
he wishes to guard his honour, he can enter 
the palace by a secret passage which opens in 
a picture of Hugo de Montmorenci, the last 
duke, who was beheaded by Louis ( an act for 
which the King always felt remorse). This 
Montmorenci had been the most intimate friend 
of Marillac, and had left him his armour as 
a present. A thought strikes Marillac, and he 
goes off the stage. 

Louise alone in this vast room — the picture 
of Montmorenci in complete armour — a bed 
at the end. She complains of her husband's 
want of love, and laments her hard fate — dis- 
misses her women. The King enters and locks 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

the doors ; after supplication and resistance on 
her part, he advances to seize her, when from 
Montmorenci's picture comes aery of "Hold! " 
and the form descends from the panel and 
interposes. The King, horror-stricken and 
superstitious, flies; Louise faints. The form is 
Marillac. While she is still insensible, the clock 
strikes; it is the hour he is to meet the con- 
spirators. He summons her women, and leaves 
her. 

Richelieu alone at night when Marillac en- 
ters to him, tells him his life is in his power, 
upbraids him for his disgrace, etc. Richelieu 
informs him that he has married him to Louise 
to prevent her dishonour, that he had sent the 
anonymous letter, etc., and converts Marillac 
into gratitude. But what is to be done? The 
conspirators have filled the fortress. They 
(Richelieu and Marillac) retire into another 
room, and presently the conspirators enter the 
one they have left, and Marillac joins them 
and tells them the Cardinal is dead, that he 
will see to the funeral, etc., and they had bet- 
ter go at once and announce it to the King, 
and that there are no marks of violence, that 
it seems like a fit (being suffocation). 



C 32 ] 



TO MACREADY 
SCENE IN THE STREETS OF PARIS 

The King, who had always feared and hated 
Richelieu, hears the news and is at first re- 
joiced, the courtiers delighted, Paris in a jubi- 
lee. But suddenly comes news of commotion, 
riot; messengers announce the defeat of the 
armies; the Spaniards have crossed the fron- 
tiers, his general, de Feuguieres, is slain ; hub- 
bub and uproar without, with cries of " Hur- 
rah ! the old Cardinal is dead," etc., when there 
is a counter cry of "The Cardinal, the Car- 
dinal ! " and a band of soldiers appear, followed 
by Richelieu himself in complete armour. At 
this sight the confusion, the amaze, etc., the 
mob changes humours, and there is a cry of 
"Long live the great Cardinal!" 

SCENE, THE KING'S CHAMBER 

The King, enraged at the trick played on him, 
and at his having committed himself to joy at 
the Cardinal's death, hears that de Marillac 
had announced the false report, orders him to 
the Bastille, tells the Count de Charost to for- 
bid Richelieu the Louvre, and declares hence- 
forth he will reign alone. Joy of the anti-Car- 
dinalists, when the great doors are thrown 
open, and Richelieu, pale, suffering, sick, in his 
Cardinal's robes, leaning on his pages, enters 

C 33 J 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

and calls on Charost ( the very man who is to 
forbid his entrance ) to give him his arm, which 
Charost tremblingly does before the eyes of 
the King. Richelieu and the King alone. Riche- 
lieu says he has come to tender his resignation, 
the King accepts it, and Richelieu summons 
six secretaries groaning beneath sacks of pub- 
lic papers, all demanding immediate attention. 
Richelieu retires to a distance, and appears al- 
most dying . The King desperately betakes him- 
self to the papers; his perplexity, bewilder- 
ment, and horror at the dangers round him. At 
last he summons the Cardinal to his side and 
implores him to resume the office. The Car- 
dinal, with great seeming reluctance, says he 
only will on one condition — complete power 
over foes and friends ; Louis must never again 
interfere with public business. He then makes 
him sign various papers, and when all is done 
the old man throws off the dying state, rises 
with lion-like energy : " France is again France 
— to the frontiers. I lead the armies/' etc. 
( a splendid burst ) . Louis, half enfeebled, half 
ashamed, retires. Richelieu alone, gives vari- 
ous papers to the secretaries, and summons 
Marillac and his wife. He asks her if she has 
been happy, she says " No/' thinking her hus- 
band hates her; put the same question to 

C 34 J 



TO MACREADY 

Marillac, who, thinking she wishes to be sepa- 
rated, says the same. He then tells them as 
the marriage has not been fulfilled, they can 
be divorced. They wofully agree, when turn- 
ing to Marillac he shows him the King's or- 
der that he should go to the Bastille, and then 
adds that in favour of his service in saving his 
(Richelieu's) life, he has the power to soften 
his sentence, but he must lose his offices at 
court and go into exile. On hearing this Louise 
turns around, her love breaks out — she will 
go with him into banishment, and the recon- 
ciliation is complete. Richelieu , regarding them , 
then adds: "Your sentence remains the same 
— we banish you still — Ambassador of Aus- 
tria." 

Now look well at this story, you will see that 
incident and position are good. But then there 
is one great objection. Who is to do Richelieu ? 
Marillac has the principal part and requires 
you; but a bad Richelieu would spoil all. On 
the other hand if you took Richelieu, there 
would be two acts without you, which will 
never do ; and the main interest of the plot 
would not fall on you. Tell me what you pro- 
pose. Must we give up this idea ? The incidents 
are all historical. Don't let me begin the thing 
if you don't think it will do, and decide about 
£ 35 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

Marillac and Richelieu. Send me back the pa- 
pers. You can consult Forster of course. 



XXII 



Rockford, 

September 16, 1838. 

My dear Macready: 

Many thanks for your letter. You are right 
about the Plot — it is too crowded & the in- 
terest too divided. — But Richelieu would be 
a splendid fellow for the Stage, if we could 
hit on a good plot to bring him out — con- 
nected with some domestic interest. His wit — 
his lightness — his address — relieve so admir- 
ably his profound sagacity — his Churchman's 
pride — his relentless vindictiveness & the sub- 
lime passion for the glory of France that ele- 
vated all. He would be a new addition to the 
Historical portraits of the Stage ; but then he 
must be connected with a plot in which he 
would have all the stage to himself, & in which 
some Home interest might link itself with the 
Historical. Alas, I've no such story yet & he 
C 36 J 



TO MACREADY 

must stand over, tho' I will not wholly give 
him up. — I know Volpone well & have been 
often struck with the force of the very situation 
you point out. 

I wish if you could lay your hands on 
U aventuriere oubliato — & the stories in Mar- 
montel you allude to — that you w d send them 
down directed to be left at the P. O. Rock- 
ford. — Depend on it,I don't cease racking my 
brains, & something must come at last. I see 
many subjects, but not the one which ought to 
be popular. You are quite right that we ought 
to have lightness & comedy, unless indeed — 
A second "Venice preserved " should ever 
be sent by the miraculous interposition of 
Apollo — 

It shall be as you like about Forster. 

But I think on talking it over when the play 
is done you will see the impossibility of con- 
cealment from him. — Is there not some col- 
lection of Italian nouvelettes by Roscoe which 
might suggest a plot? 

Y r ever 

E. L. B. 



c 37 n 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

XXIII 

Knebworth, Stevenage, 
October 23, 1838. 

My dear Macready: 

You will be pleased to hear that I have com- 
pleted the rough Sketch of a Play in 5 acts — 
& I hope you will like it. I have taken the sub- 
ject of Richelieu. Not being able to find any 
other so original & effective, & have employed 
somewhat of the story I before communicated 
to you, but simplified and connected. — Tou 
are Richelieu, & Richelieu is brought out, ac- 
cordingly, as the prominent light round which 
the other satellites move. It is written on the 
plan of a great Historical Comedy, & I have 
endeavoured to concentrate a striking picture 
of the passions & events — the intrigue & am- 
bition of that era — in a familiar point of view. 
At present it is all in prose, & for my own 
part I should prefer leaving it so as being bet- 
ter suited to the careless strokes — the rapid 
effects — & above all the easy & natural light 
which I desire & design to cast upon the large 
passion & dark characters brought upon the 
stage. But as I suppose blank verse will be 
more likely to ensure solid & permanent sue- 
C 38 J 



TO MACREADY 

cess, I fear I must recast several portions into 
that form. — Let me know your opinion. The 
comic vein in Richelieu himself is produced 
by the irony that he really loved, his easy 
confidence & the brilliant charlatanism of his 
resources. I cannot say there is much wit 
anywhere, but there are some situations of 
Humour — & much I think that somehow or 
other will get a laugh, & keep the audience 
in constant play. 

Now, for the rest, I am obliged to bring in 
many characters ( I am putting a reign upon 
the stage — tho' condensed into the usual unity 
of time— & I cannot help it). 2 ndly I shall put 
you to the xpence of a mob — a mob — & a large 
one too, I must have! Do you mind this? — 
I have avoided, however, overweighting any 
part except that of the Lover, which I suppose 
will fall to Anderson. And here I want the bril- 
liant Frenchman witty, but passionate — irreg- 
ular, yet noble — with one foot on crime, the 
other on virtue. Mr. Anderson will spoil my 
conception. But I cannot help that — How- 
ever, I am running on as if I were sure you 
would like & take it after all — which, after my 
false conjectures as to my beloved Orestes — 
is sheer credulity. — As lam beginning to copy 
out and retouch, let me know — an plutot — if 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

you have any general hints or suggestions toof- 
fer, and what you think about the blank verse. 
Truly y r . s 

E. L. B. 

P. S. Do what I will, & I avoid all long speeches, 
Richelieu will be, I fear, half an hour longer 
than the Lady. Does that signify? The Lady 
is very short. 

I see you have turned the Happy Family 
into the Foresters. 

As Forster knew of the Richelieu plot, I 
suppose he must now be taken into confidence. 
If so, send for him & enjoin all caution. 



XXIV 



Charles St., 

November 14, 1838. 

My dear Macready: 

I hope you will be able to read my scrawl. I 
send you the Play complete. Acts I & III may 
require a little shortening, but you are a mas- 
ter at that. The rest average the length of Acts 
in the Lady of Lyons. 

I hope the story is clear. And if the Domes- 

C 40 3 



TO MACREADY 

tic interest is not so strong as in the Lady, I 
trust the acting of Richelieu's part may coun- 
terbalance the defect. For the rest, I say of 
this as of the Lady — if at all hazardous or 
uncertain, it must not be acted, & I must try 
again. Let me know your opinion as soon as 
you can form it. 

Yours truly 

E. L. B. 



XXV 

November 29, 1838. 

My dear Macready: 

On hearing the play [[Richelieu] read last 
night, one thing struck & surprised me more 
than anything else, viz., the prosaic and almost 
bald cast of the general Diction. This I say sur- 
prised, because I knew I had written a Poem, 
and yet by some alchemy — the poetry was 
subtracted. 

On consideration I find it is to be accounted 
for thus : ( As in the Preface I stated,) the busi- 
ness part was purposely left plain and simple, 
prosaic in words — in order to throw the whole 
C4l J 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

vividness of contrast and light upon those pas- 
sages, where thought or passion, as in real 
life, burst spontaneously into poetry. The con- 
sequence of this adherence to the Grandeur 
of Nature has become a melancholy defect on 
the Stage (owing of course, to some error in 
treatment) — for every one almost of these 
passages is struck out, as not essential to the 
business, and the rati nantes that remain will 
undergo the same process by the further con- 
densation requisite. So that at last there will 
remain a stripped & gaunt skeleton of prose 
robbed of all the bloom & purpureum lumen 
of the Poetry that it once possessed. 

And the Play as I wrote it & as you first 
read it will no longer appear on the Stage. 
This bareness of dialogue is much more de- 
structive to the effect than you would imagine. 
And I observed that the parts most effective 
in reading were ( as in the 4th act ) where the 
mutilation had not yet reached. — Now, to ob- 
viate this — when the Play is once condensed 
— the Dialogue of the retained parts should 
be rewritten and the business part rendered 
poetical. A fearful vice in composition (ac- 
cording to my conceptions of Art ) , but which 
I suppose is nevertheless essential — since I 
now see why more experienced Dramatists 

C 42 3 



TO MACREADY 

— Knowles and Talfourd — have studiously 
sought it — I say, when a Door is to be shut, 
"Shut the Door/' Knowles would say, as I 
think he has said somewhere, "Let the room 
be airless." Probably he is right. — Now, this 
change in style will be tedious work — invitd 
Minerva. I doubt if I can do it at all. At the 
same time, farfrom complaining of the omission 
of the poetical passages, I see the necessity of 
their still more ruthless suppression & I begin 
at length to despair both of the play & of my- 
self. — Unless , therefore r on consideration, you 
see — what at present you deem doubtful — 
the triumphant effect of the Portraiture & ac- 
tion of Richelieu himself, you had better return 
me the Play, & if I can form myself on a New 
School of art — & unlearn all that toil & thought 
have hitherto taught me — I will attempt an- 
other. 

But for this year you must do without me. 

Meanwhile I will beg you not to consult 
Forster farther. Nor to listen to his sugges- 
tions. The disposition, certainly not that of par- 
tial respect, with which he came to the reading 
— broke out in spite of himself very early in 
the first scenes of the Play, & the [^page torn 
here} Manque d'egards at the close, altho' I do 
not suppose it intended as an affront, & tho' 
C 43 ^ 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

Heaven knows I have as little over-suscepti- 
bility on such points as most men, was only of 
a piece with a certain spirit of disparagement 

— which I have of late observed in him towards 
myself. Of course I can blame no one for mea- 
suring me according to the standard he hon- 
estly forms, nor would it disturb my regard for 
him generally. But I must be permitted to dis- 
pute the accuracy of the measurement, tho' I 
have all respect for the integrity of the Gauger. 

Believe me, my dear Macready, fully sen- 
sible of your consideration for my own credit 

— & confident of the soundness of your ulti- 
mate judgement. 

Yours as ever 

obliged and truly 

E. L. B. 



XXVI 



Charles St., 
November 27, 1838. 

My dear Macready: 

I am very sorry you have been unwell, & hope 

you are restored. You are right, indeed, in 

C 44 3 



TO MACREADY 

supposing that I do not perceive the existence 
of any relation between us in which any little 
service I may ever have rendered to you has 
not been most amply repaid. But even were 
some figures on my side the Balance, not rubbed 
out, your present letter would indeed be "the 
moistened sponge" of Aeschylus, blotting all 
the record. — I fully appreciate the manly & 
generous friendship you express so well. I have 
only one way to answer it — I had intended to 
turn to some other work before me. But I 
will now lay all by, & neither think nor labour 
at anything else until something or other be 
done, to realize our common object. Send back 
Richelieu, with any remarks that may occur to 
you. If it seem to you possible — either by al- 
terations or by throwing the latter acts over- 
board altogether — to produce such situations 
as may be triumphant — the Historical charac- 
ter of Richelieu is not to be replaced, & there- 
foreis worth preserving. But if neitherofus can 
think of such situations, we must lay his Emi- 
nence on the shelf & try for something else. 
You may still count on me — Health serving 
& God willing — no less as "a lance at need" 
than as, my dear Macready, 

Y\ sincere & obliged friend 

E. L. B. 
C 45 ] 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

P. S. Forster has just written me a very kind 
and handsome note, which entirely exonerates 
him from anything worse than the mauvais 
gout de rietre pas charm'e de moi-meme. Who 
can complain of being in the same Boat with 
Richelieu himself? But I acquit him even of the 
mauvais gout, if he wish it. And after all, you 
and I know that it is only Tyrants & Cardi- 
nals who never sleep. 

I would make the alterations you hint at in 
Richelieu — But I fear they would not suffice 
after all — The mob might be done away with 
altogether — & in Act 5, the bell a deep ring- 
ing for De Mauprat's execution. But even 
then I fear the mysterious something will be 
wanting. 



C 46 1 



TO MACREADY 

XXVII 

November 27, 1838. 

Anquetil. Les Intrigues du Cabinet: Vol. on 
Louis XIII. 

Voltaire. Hist. Gen. : Vol. containing Admin- 
istration de Richelieu. 

Testament politique, by Richelieu (Apochry- 
phal!). 

Memoir es de Richelieu. 

de Brienne. 

Journal de Richelieu (I have never seen it). 

Histoire du Pere Joseph. 

Memoires du Montglat. 

Hist, de France. 

My dear Macready: 

Above I send you a list of Books relative to 
Richelieu. Eno' to consult if you were going 
to write his History. But I do not think you 
will obtain from them much insight into his 
manner, at least very few details on it. Scat- 
tered anecdotes that may seem trivial, when 
collected, furnish a notion of his raillery — his 
address — his terrible good humour. His vin- 
dicti veness — his daring — his wisdom — his 
genius are in the broad events of his history. 
In France there is a kind of traditional Notion 
of his Personnel much the same as we have 
of Henry 8th or Queen Mary — or almost of 
C 47 ^ 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

Cromwell, viz: a Notion not to be found in 

books, but as it were, orally handed down. And 

this seems general as to his familiarity with 

his friends — his stateliness to the world — the 

high physical spirits that successful men nearly 

always have & which, as in Cromwell, can 

almost approach the buffoon, when most the 

Butcher. For the mere trick of the Manner, I 

fear you will have to draw on your own genius 

almost entirely. 

Your note has just arrived. I shall be in 

(here) from eleven to two. If inconvenient to 

call here, I will call on you, wherever you like, 

after three o'clock. But as I rather wish to 

leave town, if you can call here, it would be 

a little more convenient to me. In that case you 

had best bring his Eminence with you. 

Yrs. truly 

E. L. B. 



XXVIII 

Nov. 30 & Dec. 1, 1838. 



My dear Macready: 

I will send you back your play. I can make 

l 48 } 



TO MACREADY 

nothing of it. It seems to me that no improve- 
ment could give the outline stuff & volume 
eno' for a 5 act play — tho' it would make a 
very pretty 3 act piece. — I see nothing else at 
present, but shall continue to think and read 
for it. It is no use beginning with a plot that 
does not both catch my fancy or suit your no- 
tion. Only I warn you that the former object 
will not be effected without it be grounded 
on some conception that may satisfy me as an 
author as well as a Dramatist. 

I propose meanwhile to complete Richelieu. 
You can then read it, as we settled, to a select 
few & abide by the issue. I have very little 
heart for it, I own, but I see nothing else to be 
done & for anything else I have still less heart. 
Let me know what you mean about omitting 
altogether the scene at Marion de Lorme's. 

Do you mean to have no substitute for it? 

What think you of merely the outside of the 
House? Franfois coming out with the packet 
and making brief use of Huguet and Mauprat. 
Remember you wanted to have the packet 
absolutely given to Francpois. 

I propose to end Act IV by bringing on Ba- 
radas at close — & a stormy struggle in Riche- 
lieu — between his rage — his craft & secret 
design — his tenderness for Julie, &c. — & at 
C 49 ] 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

last so to overpower him with all these rapid 
emotions that he shall fall back in their arms. 
I will answer for the effect of this to close 
the act, & besides it will prepare for his illness 
in act 5. — But if you don't fancy it, let me 
know, as it will save me much labour. 
Y r f truly 

E. L. B. 

If you or Forster have any scattered & desul- 
tory remarks to make, let me have them for 
consideration, as I shall go over the whole 
play. 

I have thought that one reason why the con- 
spiracy & plot seem arrested at Act 3 is that 
Richelieu has the pack et — & even subsequently 
the audience feel that having the packet, he 
can save himself at last. The interest might be 
greatly heightened by delaying the receipt of 
the packet till Act V. Thus — Scene before 
Marion's House, Act 2 or 3 — Mauprat about 
to enter when he sees Francis coming out 
with Marion — & hears her telling him to give 
it to the Cardinal. He, not knowing what it is, 
but suspecting it to be a betrayal of the plot, 
wrests it from Franfois, who does not recog- 
nize him in the dark — in his subsequent scene 
with the Cardinal he is too agitated to recur 
to it. He is arrested next day — & it is only in 

c 50 ^ 



TO MACREADY 

Act V — when in Prison with Joseph — that he 
remembers it. Still unaware of its importance 
— he gives it to Joseph, who opens & rushes 
out with it. — This it is that recovers the Car- 
dinal, & the loss of this packet in Act 4 will 
greatly increase the apparent desperation of 
the situation. 

The only objections I see to this are — 1st, 
Is it natural that Mauprat should have delayed 
so long giving it? sndly, will it not entail the 
loss of some fine passages in act between Fran- 
fois & Richelieu? (The sword may be kept 
in, however. ) 

If this plan be adopted — & the actual im- 
portance of the packet kept in view through- 
out — the suspense may be very great. I tell 
more perhaps — if, without giving the scene 
before Marion de Lorme's, Francis may re- 
turn to Richelieu to say that it has been reft 
from him — he knows not by whom — & leave 
the audience uncertain till Mauprat produces 
it saying how he came by it. Another effect 
of this will be tightening the connection be- 
tween Mauprat & Richelieu. — Another thing 
I should like would be to keep Julie on the 
stage during Act 5 — Scene with Richelieu & 
the king — she would augment the interest. 
But would this be possible ? Think over what 
C5i 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

I have written & give me your thoughts. If 
you like what I suggest, I '11 talk it over with 
you — I fear Richelieu must be settled one way 
or other ( even if for delayed representation ) 
before I can go with free mind to anything 
else. In fact, in Act V Joseph may visit Mauprat 
to ask him what he knew about Beringhen's 
person as discovery of that is the last hope. 
Mauprat replies that he is quite ignorant of it. 
Joseph gives him up for lost when he men- 
tions the word packet — this reminds Mauprat 
that he had overheard Marion & Francis 
— had seized the packet, which had no ad- 
dress — imagining it solely the exposure of the 
plot ags. 1 Richelieu's life. I fancy I see great 
strength in all this, but it is too long to enter 
into minutiae — by letter. 



XXIX 



Charles St., 
Wednesday, 

December 14, 1838. 

My dear Macready: 

I sent you last year an afterpiece taken from 



TO MACREADY 

Vathek and another called, I think, Marriage 
a la Mode. They were by a Miss Tallent, 
a Constituent of mine. — Could you lay your 
hands on them, & return them if among the 
rejected addresses? You said they were kept 
in order to be looked over in the recess. 

When you inform me on Monday of the 
fate of our old friend The Clergyman, could 
you oblige me by sending your note here be- 
fore 2 o'clock — as at that hour a person will 
be going down to me at Knebworth and I shall 
have the ultimatum a day sooner. I am per- 
fectly prepared for stern truths, and the more 
I think of it, the more I feel convinced of the 
advisability of not making the experiment — 
unless opinions sh d be decidedly in favour of 
the success — the more so, as very consider- 
able portions of the play are carried on in the 
absence of the Clergyman, & may therefore be 
yet more doubtful on the stage than the closet. 

In Act 5 there sh d be a little alteration. 
R. says to the Sec?, " Free pardon to the Pris- 
oner Huguet." — This interrupts the grander 
order — let him say it to the officer at the time 
he snatches away Mauprat's death-writ — as 
the officer is following Baradas out. 

If Richelieu gives the Despatch to the King 
instead of the Secretary, he must be seated 
C 53 J 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

so near Louis that by a little " mutual stretch- 
ing "it can be done without rising ; in that case, 
when the Sec! says, " Designs against your 
life," alter to "Designs ags! yourself '." 

Louis 
Myself most urgent. 

Richelieu {giving the Despatch) 
Sire, in this department 

There is one matter. Here — most urgent — Take 
The Count's advice in't. 

If you think Joseph's advice about resigning, 
Act 4, not effective, you have but to omit it 
& follow up the Exit of Courtier with lines to 
the following effect: 

[Exit Courtier 

Richelieu 

God help thee, child — she hears not! look upon her — 
The storm that rends the rock — uproots the flower — 
Her father loved me so! — & in that age 
When friends are broken. — She has been to me 
Soother, Nurse, plaything — daughter — Are these tears? 
O shame — shame — dotage — 

Joseph 

Tears are not for eyes 
That rather need the lightning which can pierce 
Thro' barred gates & triple walls — to smite 
Crime where it cowers in secret. 

I 54 3 



TO MACREADY 

The Despatch ! 
Set every spy to work! The morrow's sun 
Must see that written treason in your hands 
Or rise upon your ruin. 

Richelieu 

Ay, — & Close 
Upon my Death ! ... I am not made to live. 
Friends, glory, France, all reft from me — my star 
Like some vain holy day mimickry of fire 
Piercing th' imperial Heaven, & falling down 
Rayless and blackened to the Dust, — a thing 
For all Men's feet to trample! yea — to-morrow 
France or a grave — Look up, child — Lead on, Joseph — 

Julie 
Baradas & De Beringhen, etc. 

The effect of this is to confine, consolidate the 
intent on the Packet & on Richelieu's Death 
as the consequence of its probable loss. 

I leave town to-morrow at 2, if you have 
any suggestions to make before. 
Y r ? truly 

E. L. B. 



C 55 ] 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

XXX 

December 14, 1838. 

My dear Macready: 

I enclose you a new Design for the early Part 
of Act 5, by which we heighten the suspense 
and avoid — the going from — to return to 
the Louvre — making Francis (as you once 
seemed to wish) come with the packet at the 
critical moment. Should you prefer the scenes 
first written, Francis, if you think it advis- 
able, can still come in with the Despatch by 
a little alteration. As I have not the copy of the 
Play — & go by memory — one or two little 
points for alteration in the last scenes, if my 
proposed alteration please you, I may have for- 
gotten. But I think I have guarded ags*. most. 
If you take the New Scenes, you will dispense 
with Baradas being led thro' the file of Cour- 
tiers & the words, " My Lords take warning." 
In this >2 sheet I enclose a few general amend- 
ments. In the other envelope — the principal 
one — Let me know how you like it — I was 
anxious you should have the option before Sun- 
day's reading. 

Y" truly 

E. L. B. 
C56^ 



TO MACREADY 

P. S. You do right to omit the speech about 
France, Act 4 — any cuts that don't interfere 
with the natural development in the only 2 
long Acts, viz : Act l-Act 2, would be season- 
able, especially where you are not on. 

Alterations {passim) 
In act 5 — when Julie comes to the King and 
says anxiously ," Be his Bride ?"Louis answers, 
"A form, a mere Decorum. Thou knowest / 
love thee." I fear the effect of this open avowal 
of adultery and connivance on an English audi- 
ence. What say you? — it would be softened 
by his merely saying " Yes " — if you think the 
Audience will sufficiently understand by that 
— the consistency of his loving her & yet wish- 
ing her to marry another. 

In Act V — when Joseph says, "Fall back, 
Count" he should say, "Fall back, Son!" 

In act 4 — in my last alteration, when Riche- 
lieu is pitying Julie — says, "I could weep 
to see her thus — But" — the effect would, I 
think, be better if he felt the tears with indig- 
nation at his own weakness — thus: 

"Are these tears? 
O shame — shame, Dotage" — 

At the end of that Dialogue before Baradas 
enters he says, " France or a grave — the Pur- 

c 57 3 ~ 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

pie or the shroud," which is tautology ; more 
action in the following words, "France or a 
grave — Look up, Child — Lead us, Joseph." In 
Act 2 — towards the close when Richelieu says 
all forsake him save the indomitable heart of 
Armand Richelieu — it would be well to allude 
to Julie as she now plays so prominent a part 
also to Mauprat — thus: 

"Of Armand Richelieu. 

Joseph 

Naught beside — 

Richelieu 

Why, Julie, 
My own dear foster Child, forgive me ! yes, 
This morning, shining thro' their happy tears 
Thy soft eyes blest me ! & thy Lord ; in danger 
He would forsake me not ! 

Joseph 

And Joseph — 

Richelieu 

You 

Well, I believe it — you like me — are lonely 
And the world loves you not : & I, my Joseph, 
I am the only man who cared," &c. 

The last alteration in words to Joseph is to 
soften the coarse words not discerned in the 
play of " All who do hate & fear you!" 
58 J 



TO MACREADY 

XXXI 

Hertford. 

My dear Macready: 
I enclose my note for s£ Haynes Bayley of 
whose distress and illness I am truly sorry to 
learn. I should rejoice to aid in extending the 
subscription but I really hardly know whom 
to apply to — having once before vainly sug- 
gested relief for the same person. Lady Bless- 
ington might. 

Yours truly 

E. L. Bulwer. 



XXXII 



Knebworth, 
December 18, 1838. 

My dear Macready: 

Many thanks for your kind consideration in 
writing so late at night & collecting so many 
written opinions. The result of them is encour- 
aging, but at the risk of seeming over-fearful 
I must add also— that it is not decisive. Fox's is 

c 593 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

the most enthusiastic. But he is an enthusiastic 
person , & kindhearted — Idoubthisj udgement . 
Serle's assurance that it will succeed better 
at the beginning than the end occasions some 
misgivings — for after the first night or two, 
the end is much more important and excites 
more attention than the beginning. Brown- 
ing's short line of " the play is the thing" is a 
laconism that may mean much or little — be- 
sides he wants xperience. Mr. Smith's is alto- 
gether chilling, the more so that he has re- 
peated a criticism of your own. I doubt whether 
he hits the right nail in saying that the fate of 
a mistress of a minister was the real interest 
of La Valliere or Richelieu, or that great hu- 
man Questions are not involved in both plays. 
But the fact of his opinion that the latter wants 
interest as a Dramatic work is startling and 
clear — & we need not inquire if he be right or 
wrong in guessing why it wants it. It may be 
said that the interest of Richard Iin is only 
the fate of a bloody tyrant — not greater in it- 
self or results than the fate of a mighty states- 
man. But Richard III certainly does not want 
interest; and in Richelieu — it is the fate of 
France, of the heart of Europe, as embodied in 
the Packet and the success of Baradas, which 
makes the grander interest. But if that inter- 
C 6oJ 



TO MACREADY 

est is not perceived, there is a want somewhere 
in the execution. To my mind the real defects 
in the play are two-fold — I s ! , that the tender 
interest as in Mauprat and Julie is weakened 
and swallowed up in the fortunes of Richelieu ; 
&2 ndly , and I think this graver — that the final 
triumph is not wrought out by the pure intel- 
lect of Richelieu, but depends on the acciden- 
tal success of Franfois — a conception which 
wants grandeur, & if the play were unmixed 
tragedy, would be very much worse than it 
is now. I wish this could be obviated. But I 
don't well see how. For if I were to create a 
new agency for the recovery of the Despatch 
& make that discovery the result from the be- 
ginning of the unerring machinations of the 
Cardinal, he would retain from first to last — 
that calm certainty of success which would be 
fatal to the struggle, the uncertainty & the pas- 
sion which at present create the pathos of the 
play & the suspense of the audience. 

I would not go the least upon the mere lit- 
erary merits of the play — ist, because they 
don't depend upon poetical wording of which 
everyone can judge, but upon somewhat naked 
intellect of which few are capable of judging 
& upon the variety and individualization of 
the characters, the effect of which must depend 
C 61 ] 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

upon the actors. What I feel is this — that if I 
myself were certain of the Dramatic strength 
of the play, which I was in the Lady of Lyons, 
I should at once decide upon the xperiment 
from the opinions we have collected. But I own 
I am doubtful tho' hopeful of the degree of 
Dramatic strength, & remain just as irreso- 
lute now as I was before. I fancy that the effect 
on the stage of scenes cannot be conveyed by 
reading. Thus in the 5* act the grouping of 
all the characters round Richelieu — the effect 
of his sudden recovery, &c, no reading, I 
think, can accurately gauge — & in the 4 th act 
the clinging of Julie to Richelieu, the protection 
he gives her, will have, I imagine, the physical 
effect of making the audience forget whether 
he is her father or not. There they are be- 
fore you, flesh & blood — the old man and the 
young Bride involved in the same fate & creat- 
ing the sympathy of a Domestic relation. More 
than all my dependence on the stage is in the 
acting of Richelieu — the embodiment of the 
portraiture, the work, the gesture, the per- 
sonation which reading cannot give. But still 
I may certainly overrate all this, for if the play 
do fail in interest, the character may reward 
the actor but not suffice to carry off any tedi- 
ousness in the play, especially as he is not al- 
C 6 2 3 ' 



TO MACREADY 



ways on the stage. On the whole, therefore, 
I am unable to give a casting vote — and leave 
it to you, with this assurance that if it be with- 
drawn, you shall have another by the end of 
February. 

I hope you received my alterations for Act V, 
&c, which you ought to have done Saturday 
morning — If so, pray tell me whether they are 
adopted or not — or if you can think of any 
plan to make the seizure of the Packet arise 
more from Richelieu's intellect and yet not 
disturb the previous passion and suspense. I 
think, too, that the effect of Richelieu's rela- 
tion to Julie w d be infinitely increased if we 
could introduce, however briefly, more fond- 
ness between them. Either in Act 1 when she 
is introduced, or 3 when she escapes the King 
— something more to put into action what 
he says in Act 4 when he calls her " Nurse, 
Soother, Plaything, Daughter/' &c. Tell me 
also what omissions and minor alterations are 
suggested. If we should decide "on inducting 
the Clergyman," I must have the Play again 
before it is copied out — with such cuts as you 
may think needful. So as to weave up and 
repolish the whole. 

You say a Ml" Lane was present, you have 
not sent his opinion. I shall be here for ten 
C 6 3 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

days longer, if you like to send it down — in 
that case I will subjoin the Direction. 

What I much want to know is whether the 
jury knew or guessed whom I was. I fancy it 
from the wording of their criticisms. 

And there is eno' in the mannerism to be- 
tray me. I don't feel very sanguine in Blan- 
chard's judgement — as he thought both Miss 
Landon's & Hunt's plays were of brilliant suc- 
cess. To tell you the truth, it is rather your 
letter and what you say of the opinion of M r . s 
and Miss Macready that encourage me than 
the pencil notices. 

Yours most truly 

E. L. B. 

P.S. Have you ferreted out Miss Tallent's 
play yet? 

Direction if the Play be sent down : 

To go by the Bedford coach (no other) 
leaves Holborn George & Blue Boar at 2 pre- 
cisely. Directed to me at Kneb worth Park, 
near Cadicote (Not Stevenage) Herts to be 
left at the Lodge by the 28 milestone. 

As there is no hurry it need not be sent till 
you have had leisure to decide on the cuts and 
reconsider the whole matter — perhaps it may 
keep till I return. 

Was Act III felt weak? 

C 6 * 3 



TO MACREADY 

XXXIII 

December 22, 1838. 

My dear Macready: 
I am very sorry I could not return the play 
£Mrs. Fanny Kemble Butler's^] — this Even! 
Not having received it till late in the Noon & 
not being able to work at it till 1 1 at Night. — 
Of its talent I say Nothing. — It has some 
xquisite touches — & some great power. But 
I agree more with Serle than Forster & for 
your sake & hers I say, " Pause — Reflect," 
before you make a very dangerous xperiment. 
Try the ordeal of reading it to women, & a 
few plain (not literary ) men. Honestly I think 
that without great alteration — the 3rd Act 
would close with hisses. At all events, the Pa- 
thos depends on the Judge not Anne — and if 
Vandenhoff does the Judge — why — 
Yours very truly 

E. L. B. 

P.S. I should not have said so much about the 
play — if you were not Manager. I fear the 
result might be a shock upon your manage- 
ment among a widish class. Moreover, I fear 
that as Acts 2 & 3 end with the strongest 

l 65 2 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

(viz: most indelicate) positions, & yet with 
the feeblest agents ; there will be no respect 
for the actors to stifle the revolt at the situa- 
tions. 



xxxiv 



December 24, 1838. 

My dear Macready: 

I send the play as you wished. I make the fol- 
lowing suggestions: 

In Act 1st — about the Play. I think the 
effect of his grave kindness to Mauprat and 
Julie is heightened by the comic contrast of 
reading his play to himself. This may be as 
follows : 

Richelieu 

Go! 
When you return I have a feast for you — 
The last great act of my great play. 

Joseph {going out hastily) 

Worse than 
The Scourge! 

1™1 



TO MACREADY 

Richelieu (taking up his play) 
These verses. Gone! Poor Man! 
( Seats himself with his play) 

Sublime : 

Enter Mauprat £«f Julie 

& as follows. 

Act III 

In the scene after Huguet is sent to Bastile — 
I have put some lines into DeBer's mouth — 
as an excuse to go out. As he must not see 
Francis, otherwise he would recognize him 
at the Bastile. I mention this, for the lines are 
no great things & you might otherwise cut 
them out as superfluous. 

Act II 

You have cut out about the Pigmies & Her- 
cules, but better retain. Bah ! in policy we foil 
gigantic danger. 

By giants, not dwarfs — the statues of our 
stately fortune are sculptured by the chisel not 
the axe. Because they connect themselves with 
his employment of Marion & Francis. 

In Act V — when Francis and DeBer go out 
struggling for the packet, DeBerighen must 
not cry out loud, lest it should seem odd that 
they are not overheard — the struggle should 
be rapid, intense — but not noisy. If any blades 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

used, Daggers not swords — as more commo- 
dious for close struggle. 

Act 3 — still ends weakly. But I have done 
all I can. 

In the play as printed, I shall add more 
Elaborate analysis of Richelieu's character & 
Louis's so as to remove ground for the criti- 
cisms I referred to last night. And if on the 
stage he stand out too amiably, it will be seen 
that he does so from the omission of touches 
too minute & subtle or scenes too lengthened 
for the action of a Play. — I shall long to know 
how it comes out in the green room. I feel 
very sure of Act V & think better of the inter- 
est for our time and labour. Fortunately I had 
done my corrections to-day before the news 
of poor L. E. L's death, which I have just seen 
in the paper. It has quite overcome me. And I 
cannot write now many little things that occur 
to me. So young, so gifted & I found a letter 
from her yesterday in high spirits. I have not 
been so shocked for years. — I hope I shall 
hear a good acct. of M rs M. 

Most truly y r ! 

E. L. B. 

Since writing the enclosed — it occurs to me 

that if you adopt my suggestion, Act 3 & show 

the Bed &c. — it would add to the suspense & 

C 68 ] 



TO MACREADY 

surprise by omitting Richelieu's words, "You 
have slain me — I am dead/' &c, & leave the 
audience in expectation till Mauprat returns, 
as to what his device really is. 

There are unfortunately so many papers 
used by way of writs, despatches &c, that we 
must distinguish broadly between them; the 
Writs of banishment & Death for Mauprat 
should be short scraps of Parchment & Riche- 
lieu's conditions of power which the King signs 
should be in a small portfolio or pocket-book 
with clasps. If I remember the History rightly, 
the Document containing these & other arti- 
cles of Richelieu's power was absolutely found 
( after R's death ) in a red & gold morocco book . 
The Despatch must be distinguished from the 
writs, but I hardly know how. 

I should add about Dress. That I think in 
the pictures of Richelieu, he wears the colour 
& order of the Saint Esprit — that Louis never 
wore any colours but black & orange ribbons 
— that Mauprat must wear black for his first 
dress as Julie alludes to that colour, & that the 
general costume is very like Bragelone's, with 
trowsers to the knee, bows & a mantle. You 
will see, Act 5, that I have made the King say 
he promised to hold Baradas' life sacred — i s . 1 , 
because that will account for the Vindictive and 
C69 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

ruthless Cardinal not killing him; 2 n . d , because 
at the Commencement Richelieu saying he had 
another bride, the Grave for Baradas — unless 
some such obstacle arise at the close, there 
would be no reason in Baradas' subsequent 
conduct for the Cardinal's changing his mind. 
By the way, Richelieu lived more splendidly 
than the King. Can the scene of their respec- 
tive rooms convey this idea? 

As they are in each other's arms, happy, 
Richelieu looks coldly at them & mutters, 
"After all our pains as Ministers, Kings & 
Courtiers, Human happiness still goes on." 

END. 

Now look well at this story ; you will see in- 
cident & position are good. But then there is 
one great objection. Who is to do Richelieu? 
Morillac has the principal part & requires you. 
But a bad Richelieu would spoil all. On the 
other hand, if you took Richelieu, there would 
be two acts without you, which will never do, 
& the principal intent of the plot would not fall 
on you. Tell me what is to be done. Must we 
give up this idea? 

Y rs Ever E. L. B. 

The incidents are all Historical 

Don't let me begin the thing if you don't think 

c 70 ] 



TO MACREADY 

it will do — & decide about Morillac & Riche- 
lieu. Send me back the papers. 

You can consult Forster, of course. 

You will find much of this story in "Une 
Maitresse de Louis 13," by Sain tine. 



xxxv 



1838. 

My dear Sir: 

Lord Conyngham suggests strongly, that if 
possible, The Omnibus would be represented 
first — it might be said " By particular Desire" 
— without absolutely saying that it was by 
Royal Command 

It is understood in the upper circles that the 
Queen is coming, therefore such a hint would 
be understood. I know not how far this is pos- 
sible. The Queen will arrive at 8 — I hear from 
Serle that he has disposed of all his boxes 
[The Lady of Lyons]. Webster has written 
to me to ask me to write him a play for the 
Haymarket, so I hope we are getting up. 

Y rs truly, E. L. B. 

C 71 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

The Queen wants to read the Play. I have 
ordered a copy to be made up and sent to 
you at six — will you see it placed in Her M's 
Box. — Don't forget it. 



xxxvi 



February, 1839. 

My dear Macready: 
Many thanks for the tickets. I cannot find 
any substitute for Francis, tho' I have been 
hunting thro' all the memoirs of the next reign 
for some Son of Fortune brought up by the 
Cardinal, whose character would correspond. 

He must therefore stay as he is at present. 
Let me have back my MSS., as soon as they 
are copied. They ought to bear the motto, "Cut 
& Come again/* 

If there are any lines to be altered or 
strengthened, let me know. We will fight up 
every inch of our way. 

Don't give Louis to Serle without mature 

thought. He would look it well — & walk it 

well. But would he do the passage where he 

discovers the treason & reads the scroll with 

C 72 3 



TO MACREADY 



sufficient fire and strength? for the Cardinal's 
effect would be much impaired if Louis's ag- 
ony & dismay were not forcible — also is he 
distinctly audible? 

There are so many allusions to the youth 
of Francis & so much of the interest of the 
character depends on his being young, that 
I have very great doubts of the Audience be- 
ing sufficiently conscious of the great youth 
of Elton! Wig him as you will. 

When does Jerrold's play come out? 

Y - S ever E. L. B. 

P. S. I am in a deadly rage Having just rec'd 
the accounts for The Lady in the Provinces 
17 '£ 3s ! ! ! — the Agency at the Dramatic 
Authors must be shamefully done. I should 
like to remodel the whole thing. I am the 
only man of Business of my whole tribe. 



XXXVII 

February 27, 1839. 



My dear Macready: 

I am glad the tag does. With regard to the 

c 73 n 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

Business part of your letter I can only say that 
it seems to me that the terms had better be 
regulated by the success. And that all I shall 
expect is that they may not be so estimated 
as to defeat my primary object — that of being 
of service to your enterprise. 

Will you kindly have copied out & sent to 
me tomorrow, the 4 first lines said by Baradas 
— Act 1st, Scene 1st, immediately following 
Orleans: "Well, Marion, see how the Play 
prospers yonder." 

These 4 lines have been lost by the Printer 
and I have no other copy. Pray let me have 
them Wednesday — tomorrow. 

E. L. B. 



XXXVIII 



March, 1839. 

My dear Macready: 

I cannot devise any change for the metaphori- 
cal line act III, & must leave it to your own 
abrupt inspiration. May I beg you to guard me 
the first night from a race who have previously 

c 74 3 ■ 



TO MACREADY 



declared themselves my most bitter persecu- 
tors. — They are always found in the shilling 
gallery the first night of my plays & carry 
on their malignant discords under the innocent 
but delusive appellation of "Babies"! 

Pray ordain that all such implike armfuls 
may be interdicted to the youthful matrons — 
who sit amongst the gods. 

May I beg you to give the enclosed to 
Warde, whose address I don't know — it re- 
quires the alteration of one word in Act V, his 
dialogue with Julie : instead of" dark — dream- 
ing eyes," let him say, "inspiring eyes." 



"yrs 



E. L. B. 



XXXIX 



March, 1839. 

My dear Macready: 

Several persons have told me they did not 
understand how Huguet got the packet, & in 
the bustle of the scene ( the guards being be- 
tween the audience & Mauprat in going out) 
the words "to Huguet" & the previous ques- 

c 75 n 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

tion to Huguet were not heard distinctly. I 
hope this will find you at Rehearsal and that 
you will make this as distinct & emphatic as 
possible. So much depends on it. 

Y r . s in haste 

E. L. B. 



XL 

March, 1839. 

My dear Macready: 

There was a little point I forgot to mention 
today. In Act II d , Scene with Berighen & 
Mauprat (the part that's left after Julie's 
exit), DeBerighen in going out also says — 
" Don't stir — no form," &c; the effect of this 
was destroyed by Mauprat's remaining sea ted! 
whereas he ought to be bustling about in an- 
gry agitation. When DeBerighen says, " Don't 
stir," he ought to seem as if making at DeBer. 
— So with "no form" — it is Mauprat's action 
here that should give point to the other parts. 
Please just to cast your Universal Eye — Riche- 
lieu-like — over this, as tho' a trifle, it is an 
C 76 -} 



TO MACREADY 

important one & worth the postage of this — 
from our House. 

Y rs ever 

E. L. B. 

I hear at the House nothing but admiration of 
your acting. 



XLI 

March, 1839. 

My dear Macready: 

If de Beringhen must have another jest, I can 

think of no better than 

"St. Denis travelled without his head. 
I'm luckier than St. Denis." [Exit. 

In Act II, when Mauprat rushes out for the 
first time thro' the gardens saying, "I loathe 
the face of Man/' Baradas exclaims, "I have 
him ! " This must be allowed for in the very 
next scene between you & Joseph — you use 
thesame xpression," I have themnow — I have 
them." Let Baradas say instead: 

"Go where thou wilt — the hell hounds of Revenge 
Pant in thy track, & dog thee down." 

C 77 n 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

Baradas ought to be longer & more florid 
expressing his exultation than Richelieu, 
whose simplicity of phrase comes from the 
ease of superior power & uniform success — 
with whom in fact what raises all the Devils 
in Baradas' heart is mere Child's play. 

Ward will, I trust, understand that the char- 
acteristics of Baradas are prodigious energy, 
restlessness — with youth — love — j ealousy — 
hate put in contest with the vast & dark move- 
ment of the old Statesman's intellect — & con- 
cealed vindictiveness. — Much will depend on 
his forcing out this contrast. Let me have a 
list of the Dramatis personce — the names of 
the actors for all — to print with the play to- 
night or tomorrow morning as early as con- 
venient. Let me know exactly what part in the 
Soliloquy, Act III, you speak, that they may 
be referred to in the printed play. 

How do you spell Ruelle? The old way was 

Ruel — I find it was the place where Richelieu 

entertained the poet. 

E. L. B. 



C 78 ] 



TO MACREADY 



XLII 



March 13, 1839. 

My dear Macready: 

Pardon one more 2 penny post, to suggest 
3 small cuts, — which seem to me important. 
After Miss Faucit, act III, exclaims: 

"More royalty in Woman's honest heart 
Than dwells within the crowned majesty 
And sceptered anger of a hundred Kings," 

she now adds, "Yielded — Heavens yielded/' 
Omit that" yieldedHeav ens yielded. "It comes 
weak after her effect & interferes with the sud- 
denness of your " To my breast, close, close ! " 

Act5. When Julie rushes toMauprat &says, 
"Do with me as you will," omit Mauprat's 
"Once more ! why this is mercy, Count ! " & let 
him come at once to "Think, my Julie, life at 
the best is short — but love immortal." 

In the same act, when Baradas sees the pa- 
per in the King's hand — and rushes forward, 
crying, " Hold," & is put back by Joseph. Omit 
"Death the Despatch" — the audience know 
what it is — & the familiar & hackneyed word 
becomes almost ludicrous & hurt the effect to- 
night. His action suffices to paint his despair & 
let the King run on. I had forgot to say that sev- 

c 79 n 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

eral persons round me thought that Richelieu 
should say more to Franfois — something in 
reward — & declared themselves disappointed 
that he did not. If you don't object, you might 
say, " Tour fortune 's made, brave boy; never 
say fail again/' 

I am very glad you kept in the lines, Act III, 
"Strange while I laughed" — they were effec- 
tive & wanted for the after line, " My omens 
lied not/' 

Yours truly 

E. L.B. 



XLIII 

April 24, 1839. 

My dear Macready: 

I delayed answering your note in the hope of 
calling. But have been prevented. I really feel 
many scruples & much reluctance touching 
the Enclosure, since I hear that these Goths 
— the Proprietors — have seized on the Sur- 
plus, & that after all your success, you may 
be defrauded of its just gains. Under these 
circumstances I feel as if I were swelling the 

CscO 



TO MACREADY 



tribe of Barabbas, in appropriating to myself 
any farther portion of profits inadequate to 
your own just demands & claims. Nor should 
I prevail on myself to do so had I not an equal 
scruple with regard to your pride & a feeling 
that, were it not so, you might be deterred 
from applying for any assistance I could give 
you at some future period — the experience 
of one season at Cov*. Garden will place that 
Theatre at your own terms — the next — and 
I feel convinced that you will live to complete 
what you have so nobly begun. I met Young 
last night, who spoke with enthusiasm of your 
exertions, &c. 

Will you dine with me on Sunday May 
1 2th, to meet Lords Lansdowne & Wrexham, 
1-2 past 7. 

Truly yours 

E. L. B. 



C 81 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

XLIV 

Hertford St., 
Tuesday, 

July 15, 1839. 

My dear Macready: 

I was extremely vexed not to be able to come 
to you yesterday Evening, having been un- 
avoidably & long engaged to dinner. But I 
have taken a box for tomorrow — an occasion 
which inspires me with the most melancholy 
interest & the deepest regret that my wish and 
effort to assist your struggle were so unavail- 
ing. I hope yet that some happy event may con- 
sistently with prudence & profit, retain you 
at the head of our suffering Drama. 
Most affec! & truly yf 

E. L. B. 



XLV 



September, 1839. 

My dear Macready: 

As I am prevented going to Kneb worth, 



TO MACREADY 

write about the play ^Norman] to Hertford St. 
I shall trim up your first act with a little more 
poetry. I think that Act 2 should end with 
something comic — even if you object to the 
veil — it gives more buoyancy & life to Caesar 
& contrasts the later acts. 

E. L. B. 

I hope to see you in Shy lock. As I happen to 
be a peculiar Miser in paper, I have been very 
unhappy at the loss of the y 2 quire I sent you 
by mistake & humbly request to see it once 
more. " I 'm very poor — a very poor hidalgo ! " 



XLVI 



Hertford St. 
1839. 

My dear Macready: 

I send you Norman — the only parts of con- 
sequence between Mother & son omitted are 
in the 5th act on his second surrender of his 
birthright — which the present Plot — that will 
be far more popular & safe — does not per- 
mit. — I feel certain of your own effects as the 
C83] 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

most powerful &empassioned you have had yet 
in any play of mine — during the first four acts 
\jwords here entirely gone^\ think to strengthen 
your 5th act if possible — Tho' I think you will 
grantthatyour joiningthe hands of the parents 
over Violet's form as if over an altar will pro- 
duce a much greater effect on the stage than 
you might suppose in the Closet. I hope cer- 
tainly, that you will not entertain doubts as 
to the Play generally — for if this won't do, I 
can do no other & M r . Webster must look 
elsewhere — It is literally, "Aut Caesar out 
nihil." 

But I hope on second reading you will think 
better of it. 

Any suggestions towards brightening up 
Gain's part & others — of course I should be 
most happy to receive. I am going on to Herts 
on Saturday & hope something will be decided 
ere then. 

Ever yours, E. L. B. 



C 84 ] 



TO MACREADY 

XLVII 

1839. 

My dear Macready: 

I beg to acknowledge your draft for =£100. 
I can only express my reluctance to be the 
cause of any diminution from your inadequate 
profits, but I feel that you would not listen to 
a bashfulness of this kind — & that any scru- 
ples from me might only be an obstacle to 
any future assistance I can have it in my power 
to afford you as a "Professional Author." 

I have the fullest reliance on the intention 
& good wishes of L d f Lansdowne & Nor- 
manby — I am just returned from dining with 
the former, where you & your xcellencies & 
talents were the subject of general conversa- 
tion & sympathy. — Whenever your request 
is drawn out, will you suffer me to see it? — 
& whenever it goes before the P. Council, will 
you apprise me, that I may have an interview 
with any influential persons. 

I sK be very much obliged if you would 
read Norman even hastily, at your early lei- 
sure, as I shall soon go abroad — & there may 
be much to alter — supposing you like it as 

C85 J 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

a whole. Time therefore w*! be a great object 
to me. I am in the middle of a sentimental 
Modern Comedy — a good subject — in case 
Norman does not do. But I find Comedy 
xceedingly difficult & get on very slowly — 
I dare say I shall write it over 3 or 4 times. 
— There is a great deal of dramatic pathos & 
passion in the part designed for you, & a very 
good low Comedy, old gentleman part, for 
Farren. I am most sorry to hear the fiends are 
still at you. I hope to see the [Henry] V* 
next week when we will talk of these matters 
— I am enraptured at its brilliant success. I 
hear nothing can equal the splendour of the 
pageant xcept the greatness of the acting. 

Ever 

E. L. B. 



XLVIII 



Fulham, 

Monday Morning, 
1839. 

My dear Macready: 
I am extremely obliged to you for your frank 
C 86 J 



TO MACREADY 

communication. I can say unaffectedly, my 
only wish was to bring you some aid, in a 
struggle with which I heartily sympathize, & 
my only regret is now not to have succeeded 
in that object. 

Will you have the goodness to send the 
Ms ^Norman] sealed up to 36 (a) Hertford 
St. 

Y r . s truly 

E. L. B. 



XLIX 



Craven Lodge, 
Fulham, 
Sept. 25, 1839. 

My dear Macready: 

I send you the play £Sea Captain, afterwards 
known as The Rightful Heir] founded on Nor- 
man, but entirely changed, & I think so much 
of it that I regret it is not at your own theatre 
it is to be produced. You will find your part 
greatly strengthened — &also the comic relief 
you wanted — Elvira (that Woman), tho' still 
strong, is toned down. But there are 2 other 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

characters, Gorper & the Inquisitor — whom 
I fear we shall be put to for suitable actors. I 
can't do better than this — I am sure. I should 
be greatly obliged by your opinion as soon as 
possible. If you can suggest no alterations, tant 
mieux. — It will want my last verbal revision. 
Perhaps too in the last Act — you may sug- 
gest means for an earlier entrance for Don 
Caesar. Pray write me a line as soon as you 
can. I stay in Town or at Fulham for your 
judgement. 

E. L. B. 



Knebworth, 
Wednesday, 

October 23, 1839. 

My dear Macready: 

I have made some alterations in the diction of 
the earlier acts, & to save time I enclose you 
the proofs £Sea Captain^] — which when you 
have read, please to send to Saunders & Ott- 
ley. The principal are as follows: 

C 88 ] 



TO MACREADY 

Act I. 

1. 

It seems a little too abrupt. Norman's entering 
& Violet so immediately after Prudence goes 
out. I have given her therefore a few pretty 
lines which strengthen her part, p. 18. 

2. 

Your comedy with Prudence is improved by 
being put into blank verse — it makes the 
change less abrupt — the words are very little 
altered, pages 20-21. 

3- 

I have altered your final exit at close of Act. 

But don't know whether it will do. 

Scattered throughout this act, there are a 
few verbal alterations which you can attend to 
or not, as you glance over them. 

Act II. 

By a very trifling alteration in words, Sir 
Maurice's Dialogues with Lady A. & Percy 
are put in blank verse. It will not give them 
any more trouble. But some actors do not act 
blank verse so well & easily as they do prose. 
If this be the case with Strickland, better per- 
haps not disturb him. I leave this to you. 

One or 2 verbal alterations in this act which 
you will see in the margin. 

c 89 j 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

Act III, page 59. 

I have given a very happy point to Sir 
Maurice which I should like inserted, if you 
see no objection. Give me a line to say if you 
like these corrections, and if yourclosing lines, 
Act I, will do. 

Ever y rs 

E. L. B. 

Pray let Saunders have the proofs as soon as 
possible. 



LI 

November, 1839. 

My dear Macready: 
Pray have the papers dipp'd in spirits of wine. 
The delay in burning marred the effects yes- 
terday. I think I shall propose a few more cuts 
Act 5 £Sea Captain]. But shall try and see that 
last scene again to-night. 

E. L. B. 



C90} 



TO MACREADY 



LII 



Heme Bay, 
Sunday night, 
Nov. 4, 1839. 

My dear Macready: 

It seems to me that if it were possible you 
would tear the proofs instead of burning them, 
you would greatly heighten the effect. Each 
time I have seen this, I have felt the effect de- 
stroyed by the comparative tameness of the 
physical agency — the delay in taking fire & 
the awkward struggle & no struggle of Ash- 
dale. In my earliest sketch of the play £Sea 
Captain J I had introduced a watchfire, which 
would have had a very different effect , but which 
I omitted as too evident for the purpose. The 
action of tearing the paper is far more forci- 
ble — it is in fact making the actor the agent; 
whereas when fire does it, he is only passive 
— the Fire is the agent. I don't know whether 
you will like to venture this experiment one 
night. I must leave it in your hands. 

I should like much to hear if Knowles 
swamps us — a single word on that subject sent 
to Craven Cottage will be forwarded to me. 

Y r . s ever 

E. L. B. 

C 91 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 



LIII 



Dublin, 
Nov. 30, 
1839. 

My dear Macready: 

I shall be glad to hear how the Sea Captain 
gets on tho' judging from the House I last saw 
& from the newspaper accounts of the crowds 
at Cov. Garden, I am fearful that I shall not 
have a very favourable answer. — It wants 6 
weeks to the 15th January. I can hardly im- 
agine that Webster can find it answer to run 
it on every night till then. — Do you think 
during the recess it would be advisable or safe 
to alter the play — substitute in the 3 d act 
some other agency for Onslow's death — get 
rid of Gaussen — and study some new strength 
for Act 5 ? To do so would unfortunately in 
some measure justify the Hostile critics. 

Richelieu has been brought out here with 
great success. Calcraft plays it better than you 
w? suppose and the mise en scene is xcellent. 
Calcraft copies your Cardinal of course — and 
to those who have not seen the original it is 
effective. 

Y r . 

E. L. B. 
I 9* 3 



TO MACREADY 



LIV 



Hertford St., 

Tuesday, 

1839. 

My dear Macready: 

A foreign Lady of distinction, known to a 
most intimate friend of mine, has written the 
accompanying play. She makes it a particular 
request, that you w d glance over it & accord 
her 2 minutes interview. It is probable ( I have 
not seen the play myself) that it may not suit 
the English stage, but I should feel peculiarly 
obliged, in that case, by such an intimation as 
may most soothe disappointment, & if more- 
over you could spare the time to receive her 
visit it would be an additional favour ; should 
the latter be possible — will you be kind eno' 
to fix the day & hour, & as I am leaving 
town will you send your reply to me, to the 
R. Hon b ! e C. D'Eyncourt, 5 Albemarle S l . who 
will be good eno' to communicate its purport 
to the Lady. 

Y rs truly 

E. L. Bulwer. 



I 93 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 



LV 



Hertford St., 
Dec. 20, 1839. 

My dear Macready : 
W? the office of censor ( Dramatic ) be one 
either agreeable to yourself or which as being 
still on the Boards you could with propriety ac- 
cept? I say this, for in consequence of C. Kem- 
ble's health, applications are already being 
made for the post. J. Kemble jun. has applied. 
Now I have learned to-day that there w d be 
every disposition to give you the preference 
sfr! you wish to apply — and that being the case 
hasten to tell you so. 

Yours in hurry 

E. L. B. 

The subscription to the testimonial is very 
good. 

At all events keep this secret. 



C 94 ^ 



TO MACREADY 

LVI 

December, 1839. 

My dear Macready : 

I am very glad I wrote to you. But do you not 
overrate the salary of the censor? Is it more 
than 2 or 3 hundred a year? I cannot see the 
least necessity for your implying any pledge 
as to leaving the stage, and since you see no 
objection to being censor while you act, I am 
sure no one else ought. Nor could any voice 
be raised against your appointment. — Since 
you ask my suggestion, I earnestly entreat 
you to write at once to the Lord Chamberlain 
(Uxbridge). Don't lose a moment — ask for 
the vacancy — should it occur. Kemble's health 
the natural excuse — others are applying. I 
should state the reasons you suggest in y! note 
to me why actor and censor are not incompati- 
ble, but you might also add that rather than 
lose the appointment, you w d . resign altogether. 

This they w d . never dream of wishing — 
quite the reverse. But still the offer might be 
made. 

Send me at the same time & as soon as pos- 
sible a duplicate of your Memorial that I may 

1 95 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

make proper use of it. I have secured Lord 
Uxbridge's brother-in-Law, the vice-Cham- 
berlain George Byng, your great admirer & 
friend — & I am now going to write to him to 
say you will accept the appointment. 

In dreadful haste — but in the sincerest de- 
light to serve your views in every way. 

Y r . s ever E. L. B. 

My haste is to catch Byng before he leaves 
town. 



LVII 



Hertford St., 

Wednesday, 1840. 

My dear Macready: 
A M: Richardson, the geologist & translator 
of Korner, has sent me the accompanying 
Ms. of an afterpiece to transmit to you. He 
says it is a translation of a piece that makes 
the greatest effect in Germany. 

I have looked over it — there is a great deal 

of fun in the idea, but it evidently wants a 

great deal of curtailment & a great deal of 

dressing up for the English Stage ; in fact it 

£96 1 



TO MACREADY 

should be put into the hands of a practised 
farce writer. Howbeit at all events you will 
do me the favour I know to send a kindly 
answer to the Author if declined altogether. 
His address is Geological Department British 
Museum. 

Y r . s very truly, 

E. L. B. 



LVIII 



Craven Cottage, 
Fulham, 

Friday, 1840. 

My dear Macready: 

Many thanks for your letter. I have been en- 
deavouring in vain to recall my notion of the 
Heautontimorumenos, but all I can gather is 
the impression that it will afford one very fine 
scene or even Act — but I cannot see help for 
more. The German story from Mrs. Opie will 
make a very pretty Inchbald sort of play — but 
lacks brilliancy, depth & effect for long & pro- 
found sensation. The more I thiqk, the more I 
am persuaded, that since you dislike Tragedy, 

1 97 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

Pure Comedy would be the thing. And all, in 
this, I will ask you to do is to give me an idea 
of the sort of Comic Character which will suit 
yourself. No doubt, in your Stage xperience 
— you have often said — "If I could get such 
or such a character fully elaborated, I could 
make a great hit in it." Think but of this, & 
give me the fullest conception of it you can. 
What I want is — that all its pathos & height 
should not be apart from the comic, but belong 
so essentially to it (as in Don Quixote) that 
you should almost laugh & weep, ridicule & 
admire in a breath. 

My fault is to separate the comic from the 
grave, but I think I could do much if I once 
saw how to blend the two in one conception. If 
I were writing a comedy for Farren, I should 
soon knock it off. But strange to say, you are 
my stumbling-block — I cannot raise myself up 
to that grave high Humour which would alone 
suit your dignity. My forte in comedy would 
be Farren Characters — I think it should be 
modern life — & introduce popular scenes — 
Kensington Gardens — the Stock Exchange 
Gradgrind agent etc. Yet I have often medi- 
tated on Athenian Comedy — & for the first time 
in Dramatic History, place the scenes & the life 
of that People on the English stage. The Law 

C 98 3 



TO MACREADY 

on which Plautus builds so largely gives half 
the Plot at once — viz: that the Nearest Rela- 
tion must marry or find a Husband for, an 
orphan girl — once I thought of Pericles him- 
self, who after passing a law to illegitimatize 
the offspring of the foreign women , intrigues to 
legitimatize his own Son by Aspasia. But this 
would require an Aspasia ! & besides would be 
called Immoral. 

Athenian Comedy abounds in character. The 
Parasite, the Demagogue, the plotting slave — 
the gay profligate termed Dandy — Philosophy 
& whoring — still, it would be an xperiment! 

This is all I can say — I shall have one Month 
of Leisure — from the middle of September to 
the middle of October ( my best period for the 
vein ) — after that time, I have a most arduous 
engagement & shall be tied to Time. — Calom- 
nie is excellent, but I have been so often ac- 
cused of borrowing from the French that I had 
better avoid the charge, & unless I borrowed 
largely from Calomnie I should fall upon the 
School for Scandal. 

Yours most truly, 

E. L. B. 



C 99 1 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

LIX 

1840. 

My dear Macready: 
I should have answered your letter before, but 
was in hopes that something might occur. Alas ! 
the vein is still barren. Forster will tell you 
how he returns to my old Idea of The Public. 
He fancies he sees dignity and pathetic interest 
in the situations & his ideas seem very good. 
But I cannot find a clue to any plot. If you talk 
over this with him, some outline may suggest 
itself. It might embody a part of Calomnie. 
I have thought a little of a mixed comic clas- 
sic play — Terentian — Scene Athens & subject 
taken from the favourite distress of the Greek 
Comedians — viz: the Law which obliged the 
nearest relative to marry an orphan. I think 
something serious & pathetic might arise here 
— & the Greek slaves parasites & boasters may 
furnish comic characters. But I don't see my 
way farther. 

Unless a very good comedy suggest itself, 
a mixed play is safer, especially where the 
comic company is not so strong as the grave, 
which I fancy must be your case & indeed the 

C 1GO 3 



TO MACREADY 

case everywhere. A mixed play may centre 
itself like The Lady of Lyons in 4 characters. 
Yours ever 

E. L. B. 



LX 

May 24, 1840. 

My dear Macready: 

I was summoned to Kneb Saturday, return this 
evening & find by mistake all my letters have 
been forwarded to me ; if therefore you have 
written to me, I have not had your note. Did 
you, then, make any appointment with me to- 
morrow evening, if so, when and where? 
Truly y" 

E. L. B. 



C "» 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

LXI 

June 27, 1840. 

My dear Macready: 
I have thought of a comedy & will show you 
the first two acts when in a state for it before 
I proceed further. But what I wish to know is 
— whether it would be possible to get Farren 
at the Hay market, also Anderson. I hardly 
know how I could in any way get on in my 
present plan without them. 

I have an old gentleman whom Strickland 
c d not make effective, but who w d suit Farren 
... & I have a young Lord with a dash of wit & 
sentiment about him whom Webster or Lacy 
w d . ruin. 

W* Buckstone & Elson be at the Hay- 
market? 

In short, tho' my Comedy may not do at all 
— which I can soon see — it won't do at all 
events without quiet force — the characters, 
yours excepted, are very equal. My proposed 
title is "Appearances" [afterwards called 
Money], the idea a genteel Comedy of the 
present day — the Moral, a satire on the way 
appearances of all kinds impose on the public, 

C 102 ] 



TO MACREADY 

you a rogue playing the respectable man — & 
the Intellect of the play. I repeat that as yet it 
is very uncertain whether it will do. But if I 
can achieve the first acts, I think I see my way 
thro' the rest. — 

Lastly. When w d . it most be wanted & best 
come out? 

Pray get me minute & faithful answers 
touching Farren, Anderson etc. 

Y r . s truly 

E. L. B. 

I still continue in a very bad way. Hope to 
get over to Carlsbad. 



LXII 



September, 1840. 

My dear Macready: 

Do you still want my Play £Money] ? Frankly 

yes or no. 

I can now copy it fairly. I have heightened 
the individuality of your character — by what 
I think a happy afterthought & given to the 
whole play a purpose & philosophy it wanted 

C 103 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

before. This you may conjecture by the Title 
I now suggest 

"The Egotists" 

or 

The Sin of the Century. 

I propose carrying Egotism thro' many of its 

various Shades. 

Y r . s very truly 

E. L. B. 
I have been ill again. 



LXIII 



Aix, 
September 13, 1840. 

My dear Macready: 
I sent you 3 Acts of the Comedy [Money] by 
the Bag — from Brussells I send now 2 by the 
Post. A thousand pardons for taxing you so 
heavily. But I have no choice of any other con- 
veyance — &amjust leaving Aix. I know, how- 
ever, that you will not grudge it if the thing 
is good. As I have little time to write now — 
I come at once to my critical remarks. 

1 st. The Scotch of Macfinch &c had better 



TO MACREADY 



be looked over by one more learned than I am 
in that Athenian tongue. 

2nd. The reading of the will — & the serv- 
ing the execution & arrest. Dramatic Vraisem- 
blance of this I am not an adequate judge. 

3d. Is Doleful too much the name of a Farce 
— if so, change it. 

4. I think in the first 3 acts you will find 
little to alter. But in Act 4 — the 2 scenes 
with Lady B. & Clara — & Joke & the Trades- 
men don't help on the Plot much — they were 
wanted, however, especially the last to give 
time for change of dress & smooth the lapse 
of the theme from money to dinner ; you will 
see if this part requires any amendment. Would 
it be possible to introduce another Scene of 
Passion here with Clara & Evelyn? I fear not. 

5. Are the Acts too long ! They are shorter 
than in the Jealous Wife. 

6. And principally with regard to Act 5 I 
don't feel too easy. The first idea suggested 
by you & worked on by me was of course to 
carry on Evelyn's trick to the last — & bring 
in the creditors &c when it is discovered that 
he is as rich as ever. I so made Act 5 at first. 
But I found these great objections: 

1st. The trick was so palpable to the audi- 
ence that having been carried thro' Acts 3 & 4, 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

it became stale in Act 5 — & the final dis- 
covery was much less comic than you w d . sup- 
pose. 

2ndly. From the conviction of the Audience 
that Georgina supposing him poor w d . decline 
his hand, all the interest in the strong scene 
between Evelyn & Clara was weakened — 
whereas Sir John having discovered — & his 
having got a supposed letter from Georgina 
after that discovery — the audience might think 
him again deceived & entangled & therefore 
take adeeper interest in the position with Clara. 

3dly . After Georgina ( whom I then brought 
on the stage still supposing him ruined) de- 
clined him for Frederic, he of course rushes to 
Clara. But his burst is spoilt by the presence 
of the crowd of vulgar creditors, Glossmore, 
Kent, &c. waiting for their money — & some- 
how or other in short I found that in this con- 
ception the grave & the gay spoilt each other. 
My present idea of Sir John discovering the 
trick has given much more interest to the act. 
Yet I am not pleased with it still altogether. 
I think it wants coup & completeness. But you 
are the best judge. I am sure on the whole that 
we have ample stuff for a better comedy than 
I ever thought I should write, thanks to your 
suggestion to which I have but given a form. 



TO MACREADY 

I have only got a rough copy of bits & scraps. 
Therefore Pray let me know very early at 
Frankfort that you have received the 5 par- 
cels. They will probably arrive the same day 
or within a day of each other. 

Yours in haste 

E. L.B. 
Direct Poste restante 

Frankfort. 

I propose "Money;" a Comedy for the title. 
I had thought of Money makes the Man or 
Men & Money. But I think Money the best 
& prettiest. 



LXIV 



This address till Nonnewerth, 

I reach Coblentz, The Rhine, 

Frankfort on Maine. September 15, 1840. 



My dear Macready: 

I write to tell you — from Nonnewerth — the 
Gem of the Rhine — the Isle on which Roland's 
mistress lived, a Nun — the isle on which when 
I was younger I wasted a world of enthusiasm 



C 1Q 7 ] 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

in the Pilgrims of the Rhine — before me the 
Drachenfels — beside me Rolandseck — and 
such a Devil of a cold room as I am in! ! ! 
No fireplace — no curtains, & my beast of a 
servant has lost my Nightcap ! And yet it is 
Nonnewerth — I ought to feel romantic — I'm 
sure I'm freezing. And Mon Dieu, Mon Dieu 
qu'oifaire — for a Nightcap! Out of my win- 
dow, the prospect is enchanting, except that 
there is a great deal of dirty linen hanging 
up to dry. Schiller wrote his finest ballad on 
the legend of this spot ( I wonder whether he 
generally slept with a Nightcap). Revenons 
a nos moutons. Last Night as I was travelling 
— between Aix-la-Chapelle & Boulogne — 
much too cold to sleep ( tho'then I had a Night- 
cap!) — & smoking a cigar of more than or- 
dinary merit — the moon & stars bright in 
Heaven & myself considering how many Tha- 
lers de Prusse I had thrown away in the vain 
search for health — my mind by a natural di- 
version settled itself on the Comedy of Money 
( you've no notion how cold I am ! ), and I was 
more & more persuaded that Act 5 wanted 
shortening — tho' I find it difficult to suggest 
the precise alteration. 

I take it for granted that two objects are 
necessary — 1st, to keep the audience in some 

C 108 3 



TO MACREADY 



suspense; sndly, to give as much interest as 
possible to the scene between Evelyn & Clara. 
Hence I imagine that Sir John ought to dis- 
cover the trick ( that discovery effecting these 
objects). But on the other hand, this a little 
lowers the intellectual dignity of Evelyn, 
whose excuse for this trick ought to be its suc- 
cess, & makes the catastrophe turn not on his 
successful skill in outhumbugging Sir John, 
but on the accident of Sir John's punishment 
in the deceit of the dower. What think you of 
that objection? — I think also that the Audi- 
ence will want to see reintroduced & shamed 
that Chorus of Worldly Characters who have 
moved round the principals — thro the Play. 
This last I could effect with encreased comedy. 
Suppose Sir John knows that Evelyn is not 
ruined — but the rest imagine he is. Bring in 
Glossmore — tradesmen — several members of 
the Club, &c, whom he may be supposed to 
have borrowed of. And while they are insisting 
on their money, Sir John hugging himself in his 
superior cleverness & saying to Evelyn, " I '11 
stand by you, my dear fellow." But in this 
Comedy Evelyn can have no share. It must suc- 
ceed his Interview with Clara and his convic- 
tion that Georgina had lent him the io,ooo=£. 
He therefore can have no spirits for any kind 

C 1Q 9 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

of joke — otherwise the time to introduce them 
is when Sir John has dismissed Lady Beever 
for Georgina — then they come in — to them 
Sharp announcing not only the boro', but a 
vomit of things, showing Evelyn's opulence 
— the astonishment of the Dupes who are dis- 
missed by Evelyn's merely saying to Sharp as 
he is running on, "Pay these gentlemen, will 
you?" — Sir John's rapture & then the coup 
of Georgina's departure. But in all this, as I 
before said, what can Evelyn do? His part is 
not strong as it ought to be — already in Act 5. 
In short, you must well consider this act. — I 
think it \v d . be desirable, if possible, to reintro- 
duce the crowd of characters. But if the 4 acts 
do, we may consider the Play as settled, for we 
shall be sure to shape out the 5th which has 
some very good things in its position. — After 
your last speech in Act 5 as sent to you, I 
propose to add something to take away from 
its didactic tone & bring back both the comic 
spirit & the picture subject of the Play. It will 
run thus 

Doleful 
But for the truth & the Love when found, to make us toler- 
ably happy — we should not be without — 

Lady Beever 
Good health. 



TO MACREADY 

Doleful 

Good spirits. 

Clara 
A good heart. 

Evelyn {shaking his head at Clara & half gaily, half sadly) 

And enough Money! 

I write this taking it for granted you have ere 
now received the 5 acts & hoping to hear to 
that effect at Frankfort. I continue very poorly. 
The climate is dreadfully cold & I am now just 
going to retire to rest — without A Nightcap! 
If the play does generally, send me a de- 
tail of all the corrections you would suggest, 
& if I don't return to England, I will send it 
you thus amended & with its best polish. With 
regard to the terms — I take it for granted that 
Webster will agree to the same as for the Sea 
Captain — 600 £ down for 2 years — provided 
he continues the Haymarket. — But I must not 
count on the chickens, unless I hear from you 
that they will bear hatching. — Whoever does 
Blount must not haw-haw, but be perfectly 
simple & young & good looking & smooth. 
Doleful & Sir John require very good actors. 



c m 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 



LXV 



September 26, 1840. 

My dear Macready: 

Your letter of the 21st reached me this morn- 
ing (not the other — the Lost Unpaid). I am 
truly enchanted that the comedy [[Money]] 
seems to you good, & likely to succeed, & your 
congratulations are so warm & friendly that 
they make me insensible to the cold of this 
Barbarous Climate. I continue ill & am indeed 
worse than ever as to my principal malady. 
I shall return to England in a few days — and 
if you will then return me my copy or another 
— with all your suggestions — I will see to 
them during the few days I shall stay in Town; 
& leaving the Play & its fate in your hands, 
set out either to Italy or Cadiz. All the Doc- 
tors here concurring in the advice of a warm 
climate for the Winter. 

With regard to the Characters — would the 
interest of the Play be heightened by making 
Georgina more interesting & Blount more 
witty — more of the gay blood of the old Com- 
edy. His & her parts both are at present dis- 
agreeable & will require great skill in indiffer- 

C 112 n 



TO MACREADY 

ent actors to carry off. — So indeed will Sir John 
— for I recollect how Sir Maurice in the Sea 
Captain was spoilt because the audience will 
not sympathize in Humour when unconvinced 
unless the actor has great subtlety. Consider 
all this well. Consider also Act 5, thro' which 
I do not yet see my way to improvement. W d . 
it prolong the interest tomake Blount & Geor- 
gina return with Lady Bee ver — Georgina hav- 
ing declined to run off but refusing Evelyn be- 
fore Sir John can interfere &generally express- 
ing her regret at her deception? — So thro' 
their consistency Blount & Georgina must be 
elevated throughout from their present selfish 
insignificance. 

Does not the ending of Act 2 leave rather 
a painful impression & displease one with 
Evelyn — all the sympathy being for the girl? 
Can what Evelyn says in that 5 Scene with 
Clara be embellished & heightened ? Her part 
beats his there. 

Will you ag 5 ? I come to town have the Law 
points as to the vraisemblance of the will & 
the technicalities of serving the Execution & 
the Arrest looked up — one w d . not fail on these 
points. The Stage allows a certain looseness 
— but sufficient accuracy to satisfy a miscella- 
neous audience must be kept up. See also, I 

■C 113 ] 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

entreat, to the Scotch of our friend Macfinch. 

I will have a little programme of the Scenes 
— of the Actors agst we meet. 

As for you, my dear Macready, whenever 
you can find me a Man with more thoroughly 
the air, breeding & person of a gentleman, I 
will allow that you may be diffident as to act- 
ing the man of fashion — not till then. 

Recollect — that Evelyn is always simple — 
I should suggest his first dress — a black frock 
buttoned up, black stock & no collar ( which 
always looks rather seedy ) , trowsers without 
straps & shoes; in his second dress — exactly 
your usual costume. Sir John should wear 
a blue coat with velvet collar, buttoned up — 
the Kings button. In the Evening — his or- 
der of the Guelph — breeches & silk stock- 
ings. Blount must be perfectly dressed — also 
Smooth. D'Orsay may be consulted here. Stout, 
with a little brown coat, blotting-paper trow- 
sers, coloured cravat & thick stick. Glossmore 
is a ci devant j eune homme about 45 , wears studs 
& plenty of shirt. Doleful ought to be hand- 
some, to account for Lady B — liking him. 

The Butler's pantry was meant, partly to 
give time to the others to dress, & partly to 
carry on the time from morning till dinner — 
otherwise it is superfluous. 



TO MACREADY 

I conclude the parts to be cast as follows : 



Lady Beever 


: Mrs. Sterling, whom Forster recommends 


Clara : 


Miss Faucit 


Georgina : 


Miss Taylor i.e. Mrs. Lacy 


Glossmore : 


Who? 


Smooth : 


Phelps — who better ? His part seems to me excel- 




lent. I sh<i like to act it 


Blount : 


Lacy 


Stout : 


Wrench 


Sir John : 


Strickland 


Macfinch : 


Who? 


Doleful : 


The Manager Webster 



The old Member with the snuff-box, pray 
don't omit — even to his last word. He is the 
Philosophy of the whole scene. The perfect in- 
difference of the ordinary world to the emo- 
tions of its principal actors. No matter who is 
ruined, all he cares about is his snuff-box. You 
must enter the man who performs this. I hope 
the Play is not much too long. What I most 
fear are some long speeches of Sir John's at 
the beginning ; but they seemed necessary for 
the full development of his character after- 
wards. 

You see, my dear Fellow, that you must al- 
ways suggest my plots & situations. Till you 
gave me the outline I was all abroad — I only 
return to your lips your own chalice. I have 
thought of another capital subject for a Com- 

l *15 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

edy if this succeeds, viz.: " The Public." That 
is the various humbug carried on on behalf & 
under name of the Public — together with the 
absurd inconsistencies of that precious Fallacy 
called Public Opinion. The distinction between 
the grave eternal People & the noisy frivolous 
false likeness called the Public. I see great 
fun & a high moral out of this — if when the 
time comes we can think of a story. The Prin- 
cipal Character should be a Minister or a Pa- 
triot, & what a satire one might make on the 
Press ! 

By the way, I hope the Politics in the Com- 
edy — being all general & not at all Party — 
viz. between that Glossmore & Evelyn — will 
not lay us open to unfair charges or censors 
notice hisses. Think of this. 

Y rs Ever 

E. L. B. 

Frankfort 

I shall expect here y r . promised & dictated 
letter sent after you receive this. My address 
will be The Cottage, Fulham. 



c"«o 



TO MACREADY 



LXVI 



October, 1840. 

My dear Macready: 

Yours is rec d to-day. Regarding the Pro- 
logue & Epilogue. I have a superstitious hor- 
ror of such things. I shall never forget the cold 
damp thrown over the Theater when Ml H. 
Wallack in black shorts stepp*! forward to 
freeze the Audience with the prologue to La 
Valliere. Besides — the Play £Money^| is al- 
ready long & the 10 minutes occupied by 
Prologue & Epilogue it 's to be spared. I will 
think over it, but not with a good heart. 
Meanwhile tell me who you propose to speak 
them. There are no persons to whom such 
things could be trusted except yourself — and 
out of the rest, perhaps Miss Faucit ? Eh ! Give 
me your idea on this — as of course the kind 
of composition depends on who is to be the 
Oracle. 

With regard to Smooth's white coat ( I sup- 
pose great-coat), there is one objection. It is 
the London Season that is Summer — & be- 
sides it is a very dangerous article of dress 
unless the figure carries it off well. If he likes 

c 117 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

to wear it, Jackson must make it — in the 
present fashion — no buttons behind. 

I will see if another line can be added to 
his part in his first scene, when I get the proofs 
thereof, having no copy here. — Lake should 
have black shorts & silks — powder — smart 
showy waistcoat & his butler's jacket on 
(when he has his scene) — to shew what he 
is. When he comes on to you — a blue coat 
& gilt buttons. — You did not tell me how to 
smooth over the difficulty that Clara, know- 
ing Evelyn had been led to suppose Georgina 
wrote to the Nurse, w d of course have fore- 
seen that he must suspect Georgina to have 
paid him the money. There is another diffi- 
culty. Evelyn bribes Sharp to say the Codicil 
contained 20,000^. Now all such evidence 
w d have to be filed at Doctors' Commons. I 
fear it could be hardly settled legally in the 
off-hand manner Evelyn does it on the Stage. 
Let me know these 2 points — what could be 
s d to smooth them. I think it better to let 
Mrs. Glover, who I hope takes the part, say 
the line about Sir Fred to prepare for his 
dwopping the R. 

I see great difficulties in the way of chang- 
ing the Scene for Graves & Lady F — it would 
make the joke still more dangerous by appear- 
C "8 J 



TO MACREADY 

ing more brought in on purpose, & I don't 
think a Scene should change without it prac- 
tically & absolutely forwards the Plot. But 
would it not solve all difficulties to let the 
whole scene from the commencement of the 
Act to the place in Sir John's Study — & throw 
in a word to signify that it is his study ? & 
make it natural for Graves to be shewn there. 
The scene itself might be a good humbug 
scene — Parliamentary blue Book s — Great 
Tin Boxes as if holding Title Deeds inscribed 
"theVesey Property" — Huge sort of Bureau, 
&c. This seems to me to smooth all difficulties. 
Let me know. 

With regard to the Club-room. Since they 
must both, Act 3 & Act 5, be the same, it 
must be a drawing-room — in that case Smooth 
in Act 5 can't breakfast there, but he may 
be munching a biscuit with a glass of sherry 
— omit the egg. But as we may as well be 
as accurate as we can, c d you quietly find out 
thro' D'Orsay or any member of Crockford's 
without saying for what purpose, whether 
whist & piquet would be ever played in the 
great Drawing-room at Crockford's — or in 
some other room set apart for the purpose. If 
it s h . d turn out to be ags! the Fundamental rules 
of the Club to play in the great drawing-room 

c »9 n 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

why we must have the legitimate card-room 
for the scene. But if it s hd happen that — tho' 
not frequent or customary — yet that it does 
occasionally happen that a Table is made up 
in the great Draw g -room, that is all we want. 

I would write to some member — but I think 
it better that they sW not guess what the 
inquiry is for. Besides I sh d . not like to seem 
as if I had made the Manager put Crockford's 
on the Stage. There is no objection for him to 
do so, but it might seem a clap-trap for me to 
dictate it. 

You surprise me about the Battledore. 
Merely cork & feather is a good point. Is that 
the part you object to? Will you try it again 
in Rehearsal — & let me have an inkling how 
you w d . have the Point turn? if you still find 
it, don't tell. 

Y? E. L. B. 



LXVII 

October, 1840. 



My dear Macready: 

1 st. Let me thank you for telling me to see 

C 120 1 



TO MACREADY 

the earlier part of Money. I saw your second 
Act last Tuesday. It was indeed admirably 
improved. In the scene with Graves especially. 
I still think that, however, you w d make a 
much greater effect in the story of the Sizar, 
if you wound up & clenched the moral of it 
with the few words in the text — after career 
of a life blasted, " That is the difference be- 
tween Rich & poor. It takes a whirlwind to 
move the one, a breeze can uproot the other/' 

2ndly . May I ask you whether the enclosed 
refers to the Shakespeare Club you asked me 
to enter & if there would be any objection to 
my being a Vice-president at the Dinner. I ask 
this because the name of the Editor of the Satir- 
ist is in the List of Stewards — otherwise pour 
des raisons I wish to belong to the Dinner. 

3dly. Will you kindly get the Prompter to 
copy out for me the few alterations I made 
in "Money"? — Clara's words about the old 
nurse. Act I, your semi-explanation with 
Smooth, Act 3 & end of Act II, & observa- 
tions to Graves, Act 5 — I am correcting a col- 
lected Edition of the Plays for Press & want 
it as soon as I can have it. 

E. L. B. 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

LXVIII 

October, 1840. 

My dear Macready: 

I send you your last speech Act 4 corrected 
— also the additions for Glossmore & Stout. 
May I inquire if Power is positively engaged 
for March when the House reopens. In that 
case I think we could ensure the permanence 
of the play £Money] — by altering Sir John 
for an Irish Blarneying fellow by Power. And 
I think I see by this a great effect for you in 
a new 4th Act — where a scene might come in, 
in which these 2 men have a thorough sharp 
Wits' encounter which shall take in the other? 
— in which there might be great fun & great 
interest. 

E. L. B. 
I hope to hear new good news of the Invalid. 



C 122 3 



TO MACREADY 



LXIX 



November 8, 1840. 

My dear Macready: 

I cannot say how much I feel your kindness 
in all the Labour & zeal you bestow upon the 
Play £MoneyJ. I am sure it owes it to you 
rather than me to succeed. — I have only just 
got the proofs of Act 4. But hope to-morrow 
to send you the alterations you wish in that 
& Act 3, viz. : relative to Graves — and Sharp 
versus tradesmen. 3 Additions to your part 
have occurred to me. Do you like them? 

Act 2. Instead of "Ay, here as easy where 
money versus men:" " Right. Down with 
those who take the liberty to admire any lib- 
erty except our liberty! — That is liberty!" 
and instead of" Both sides alike poor men" — 
in rejoinder to Glossmore — "Right as with- 
out Law there w* be no property. So to be a 
Law for Property is the only proper property 
of Law ! That is Law ! " 

Again, when Sir John, speaking of Smooth, 
Act 2, says, " An uncommonly clever fellow," 
Evelyn may say — " Clever, yes ! when a man 
steals a loaf we cry down the knavery ; when 

I 123 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

a man diverts his neighbour's millstream to 
grind his own corn, we cry up the clever- 
ness. And every one counts Captain Dudley 
smooth ?" You need not answer on these 
points till you answer my next letter with the 
other corrections. You wanted something to 
say to Tabouret, Act 2. It can come thus: 
"A levee as usual, good day. Ah Tabouret, 
your designs for the Draperies (Tab shew- 
ing Draw? ) very good, and what do you want, 
Mr. Crimson?" 

Add then afterwards, " as celebrated for vis- 
a-vis, silver, furniture & coats/' &c. Every 
time Stout enters he ought to be wiping his fore- 
head . When Georgina, Act 1 , removes her arm 
from Blount's chair, it ought to be because Sir 
John frowns significantly & nudges her. 

Wrench's dress coat may be a brown one. 
With regard to clothes one must remember 
that one must be always a little more dressy 
on the stage than in real life. And velvet . . . 
a dress. But as you fancy it. Certainly the mere 
change of a coat will do for a club. I have 
some little doubts of your wearing tights at 
your dinner. It is certainly not usual in real 
life — but a Bachelor receiving Ladies may pay 
them that mark of civility. They love tights as 
Dandies love flesh-coloured drawers in opera 



TO MACREADY 

Dances. Besides, it impresses & lightens a 
good figure. The dark grey as you were for 
having it, not too merry will do for the first 
dress. 

Y r . s ever, 

E. L. B. 



LXX 



Knebworth, 
Monday, 

November 10, 1840. 

My dear Macready: 

I enclose the alteration you require, & now 
will you let me know, as well as you can, 
what you adopt, because of the Printed Cop- 
ies. Especially for the proofs for America, 
which ought to go instantly. You observe that 
this alteration, Act IV, strengthens Sharp's 
part and makes a goodish Actor necessary. 
Who acts it? However pressed you may be 
for Servants, pray let Sharp speak to the two 
— two doubles the comedy & bustle of this 
short scene. — And it will come to the same 
thing, since Toke may usher in Glossmore & 
Blount. 

C 12 ^ n 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

May I ask you when you write to send me 
the cast of the Dramatis Personae as acted — 
as I don't know who act Sharp, the Trades- 
men, &c. I hope Macfinch's representative 
speaks Scotch decently. Furthermore, when 
do you think the play £ Money] will be out? 

I am delighted to hear such good accounts 
thanks to your indomitable inspirations. I'm 
very sorry to inflict on your opprest time the 
new burthen of an answer to these details. 

Ever y r . s 

E. L. B. 

I highly approve of your cut in the dialogue 
between Sir John & Clara. 

I still greatly dread the change of scene for 
Graves & Lady F. But you will judge in the 
rehearsal. 



LXXI 



November 13, 1840. 

My dear Macready: 

A thousand thanks for all that has been done, 

touching that Vitious Rice. I think it settled the 

best way — if no other person can be found! 

C 126 3 



TO MACREADY 



But still one's eye sh d be directed to that ob- 
ject. Could Oxberry do it? I send you some 
more additions for your part [Money^, the 
first two I think you may like — I am in doubt 
about the others — in which my object was this. 
That as Blount, Glossmore & Stout all press 
their bets on Evelyn, he sW strike out the 
moral — of every nian eager after money — & 
the additions I propose in this strengthen your 
part perhaps , but I have great fear whether they 
do not in the first place mar the rapidity of 
the whole scene. Secondly whether by forcing 
any reflection whatever upon the Audience one 
does not stop the current of the careless laugh- 
ter that ought to flow thro' the Scene. You will 
consider this well & try it carefully , if you think 
them worth trying at all. I am very anxious for 
an answer on one point bynext post if possible. 
You will substitute Sharp with the Trades- 
men — Act 4 — for the scene as it stood before. 
As that is an alteration that will unsettle the 
types, & I must send the proofs to America 
& no time to lose. Don't trouble yourself to 
answer the rest, unless you like to say Yes or 
No to the enclosed. 

E. L. B. 

I shall be in Town Monday for a few days. 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 
LXXII 

Knebworth, 

November* 1840. 

My dear Macready: 

Do you like the following emendation for the 
battledore — after the words "everywhere, 
nowhere. How grave are the players, how 
anxious the bystanders — how noisy the bat- 
tledores. Does it signify 3 straws what 's the 
worth of the Shuttlecock ? " — omitting perhaps 
"Go & play by yourselves/' &c, or "How 
grave are the players, how anxious the by- 
standers — how noisy the battledores. A de- 
lightful game ! What 's the worth of the Shut- 
tlecock ! " Would you give me one word to say 
if you like either of these two & if so which, that 
I may copy it into the printed Play £MoneyJ. 
I 'm ashamed to worry you so much. 

I remain stolidly unconvinced about the 
change of Scene for Graves. I think it really 
very dangerous & awkward, & you must re- 
member, that if this scene with the dancing & 
the sudden entrance of Sir John &c. is too near 
the Proscenium, all the effect must be ruined. 
However, tho' most reluctantly, if you con- 

C 128 ] 



TO MACREADY 

tinue to insist on its necessity, I must try & do 
what you want. But really the stage is deep 
eno' both for that & the Club. Directly I get 
the proofs of the 4 th Act, probably tomorrow 
or next day, I will see about the alteration 
with Sharp & the Tradesmen. Tho' I had fan- 
cied that Scene more effective for Evelyn than 
the one with Glossmore & Blount, you won't 
save much time by it. — Abandon the Prologue 
as a thought of our Evil Genius — Phelps & 
Webster settle that point. 

I tremble for Strickland & for Lacey. How 
do Rice & Wrench get on ? 
Adieu. 

Y r ! Ever & most obliged 

E. L. B. 

I am better, thank you. And how is my little 
godson? better I hope, too — sympathetically. 



LXXIII 



23 Bryanston St., 
December 31, 1840. 

My dear Macready: 

I congratulate you heartily on the improve- 

C 1Q 9 ] 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

ment of your dear boy — such news gives me 
heartfelt delight. 

So you have got the other month — I trem- 
ble for the awful length to which Money ought 
now to run. But as this precludes all future ex- 
tended alterations, so we can only make the 
present Plot as clear & tangible as possible. 
I am glad therefore to hear that the alterations 
succeed — especially at the end of Act 4. 1 hear 
from many, before hypercritical, how much 
improved the play is — a large party were 
enchanted with you and the whole thing the 
other night. Still the one point of Evelyn bor- 
rowing from Sir John requires explanation & 
the enclosed few words ( the last trouble I will 
give you ) sets that right and will, by drawing 
attention to your dialogue with Sir John, serve 
perhaps to bring out some little of that Com- 
edy which Mr. Strickland so resolutely buries. 
As the words are so few, I hope you will for- 
give them. 

At the end of Act in your closing speech 
will you remember to say, you "would" re- 
fuse me io=g to spend on benevolence. Not 
you refuse me. The would is important. 
Y rs Ever 

E. L. B. 

C 130 ] 



TO MACREADY 



LXXIV 



1840. 

My dear Macready: 

I had hoped ere this to have answered in per- 
son your letter. But I am as much oppressed 
by my business as you by yours, & there- 
fore sit down to tell you fairly & shortly my 
views as to any aid I can give you. Putting 
compliment on one side & modesty on the 
other apart, I believe that I could be more 
useful than most other writers, & that a play 
of mine, if successful, would draw more than 
one of equal merit from Authors less known, 
or more hacknied in Stage Experience. But it 
would be idle to hope anything from me, un- 
less you can find the leisure, to suggest and 
Chalk out your general suggestion of the sub- 
ject — I cannot afford the time which may be 
wasted by writing, as it were in the dark, & 
you would perhaps count in vain upon assist- 
ance, which an ill-chosen subject would ren- 
der a vain xpectation. 

To speak frankly — no play can pay me in 
a pecuniary sense. For the least time it takes 
is about half the time of a Novel. The utmost 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

pay it can receive is not half the profit derived 
from a fiction. 

I might fairly value my time in the Last 
play I wrote for you — & which you thought 
hazardous — at 6 or =£700. Now, I have not 
the least desire to make money the prominent 
object either in Dramatic or any other com- 
position — less in the Drama while you are at 
its head than any other, but I cannot wholly 
omit its consideration. — I shall be delighted 
to write you a play upon a subject you sug- 
gest & think good, & leave the profits, in 
much, dependent on the run. — But it injures 
me, without serving you — to devote thought, 
time & toil to Vague experiments on which you 
cannot depend foryour calculations, &c.There- 
fore, in brief, give me your subject & I will do 
the best I can — if not, "Sparta hath many a 
worthier son" & Forster will, no doubt, hunt 
him out for you, a Landor or a Tennyson of 
the Drama. 

I am afraid you will think this letter some- 
what brusque, but I hope at all events it will 
not offend you, & that you will clearly see that 
my sole wish is simply to put before you the 
real question. I am not fond of Dramatic com- 
position. For no other man living with my 
present views & occupations would I write a 



TO MACREADY 

play — unless greatly tempted & encouraged: 
I am willing to make any sacrifice of time or 
profit to serve you. — But then, I want to be 
assured that the sacrifice does serve you, or 
I lack heart and inspiration. 

Y r f most truly 

E. L. B. 



LXXV 



Knebworth, 

Stevenage, Herts, 
1840. 

My dear Macready: 

I have thought over your idea of blending The 
Illomened Marriage and the French Comedy 
— but cannot see my way to it. — The grave 
and comic do not seem to me to harmonize in 
it. If you have leisure for any ideas of the plot 
and Acts, pray chalk out your notion of the 
outline. 

I should however much prefer a direct Com- 
edy — or a direct tragedy — to a mixed play — 
and after allThe Illomened Marriage must have 
the same interest as The Lady of Lyons — & 

C 133 ] 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

Novelty w d be wanting.— I have a superb sub- 
ject for a Tragedy — if I can make you see it. 
"Warwick, the King maker — the last of the 
English Barons/' I am finishing a romance on 
the subject, but I should treat it so differently 
as a Tragedy that that would not signify. 

The Plot is full of domestic interest — al- 
most as strong as Venice preserved. Judge for 
yourself. Warwick, the last & mightiest of the 
English Barons, has dethroned Henry 6 & 
placed Edward IV on the throne. — He loves 
Edward as a son, & wishes Edward to marry 
his dau'r, Isabel — but the King has chosen 
Elizabeth Woodville. Warwick, tho' disap- 
pointed, takes it well. He is sent by Edward 
on a solemn Embassy to Lewis XI to betroth 
Edward's sister to Lewis's son — meanwhile 
the Queen, who hates Warwick, has put on 
him a grievous insult, by persuading Edward 
to give his sister to Charles the Bold of Bur- 
gundy. — Play opens during Warwick's ab- 
sence. He returns to find himself juggled. A 
powerful and stormy scene with the King — 
they quarrel. When Warwick leaves Edward 
the disaffected Barons come to offer Warwick 
( who is a Plantagenet ) the throne ; he refuses 
— partly thro' pride (he is an aristocrat who 
looks down on a King) — partly thro' love to 
C J S4 j 



TO MACREADY 

Edw d & nobleness of soul. In the second act 
Warwick & the King are reconciled, & War- 
wick's daughter Isabel is to be married to Ed- 
ward's brother the Duke of Clarence — but 
when Edward sees Isabel, w 7 ho is wonder- 
fully improved in beauty since he preferred 
Elizabeth Woodville, he falls in love with her 
& forbids the marriage with Clarence — finally 
he offers violence to Isabel — Warwick discov- 
ers it — his feelings. What! his daughter to be 
the King's harlot and M r f Elizabeth Woodville 
the King's Queen! This drives him to rebel- 
lion — powerful scene with Margaret of Anjou 
and Henry 6th whom he had dethroned and 
whom he now would restore. He does restore 
Henry 6th, and Edward is driven from the 
country. Warwick is now at the height of 
power. His daughter is married to Clarence. 
But Clarence is discontented and listens to 
the intrigues of Edward to desert Warwick — 
Isabel placed between the contending duty to 
Father and husband. Edward lands, marches 
to London, and Clarence deserts with all his 
troops to him. The eve of the Battle of Bar- 
net. Scene Warwick & his Daughter Isabel 
— & the final catastrophe of Warwick's death 
in the Battle. I have very roughly chalked it 
out — but I think it capable of strong domestic 
C !35 ] 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

interest, while Warwick's character is very 
grand and absorbing — and a bold picture of 
the times may be given. This is the best tra- 
gic subject I can think of, but a pure comedy 
w d be more popular if a thesis could be found. 
— But I have only to repeat that unless you 
could give me a subject, I shall never chance 
on one. 

With regard to The Lady of Lyons. — Itwas 
only acted once as an after-piece — the night 
of Kean's benefit. I wrote to remonstrate with 
Webster immediately, & I don't think it can 
happen again. — I cannot agree with you that 
it should be laid aside a season, tho' I think it 
need not appear in the commencement. Would 
ioo=g for it — for the next season after it falls 
due to me which is not until January — be too 
much? It certainly will be — unless you think 
of running it altogether from 10 to 20 nights. 
I have no scruple therefore in treating this 
wholly as a matter of business. 

I really wish you could give me a comedy 
— for I should be most unfeignedly happy to 
aid your great experiment. — But I have no in- 
vention in plots — & a House must be founded 
before it can be built. Not a word of all this 
to Forster. 

Warwick's death is affecting — Edward & 

c 136 3 



TO MACREADY 

Clarence sent to offer him terms and pardon 
if he would dismiss his army. His answer was 
full of lofty disdain & galled feeling. His bro- 
ther Lord Montague & he killed their horses 
to fight on foot — in sign that they would con- 
quer or die — embraced & fell fighting side 
by side. 

y: 

E. L. B. 



LXXVI 

January, 1841. 

My dear* Macready: 

I have rec'd yours on my return to Fulham. 
Alas, I cannot find any idea for what you de- 
sire. One indeed occurs to me which I fancy 
you would find invaluable as a Manager. But 
as an Actor you would not be wanted. Start not 
when I tell you the idea. Tieck wrote in Ger- 
man a satirical play on Puss in Boots — it had 
immense success. This is my idea! — 3 Acts 
in rhyme like Bombastes Furioso with songs 
— a sort of Beggars' Opera — full of allusions 
to the Present Day. I am sure I could make it 
I 137 ] 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

witty. Aristophanes in his Birds will give you 
the idea of what I mean. The play to open 
with the Millers. Fancy their conversation 
on the Corn Laws! — Then think of the quiz 
on Charlatanism in the Marquis de Carabas 
seizing other people's property as his own. I 
propose a chorus of Rats — Radicals, whom 
Puss treats with great disdain. I shall introduce 
Homoeopathy — Magnetism — the Press — the 
House of Commons — Everything. Puss Miss 
Martin could do. The Marquis de Carabas w d 
be a fine part ! I am serious ! I think I see some- 
thing all the Town would run after & might 
alternate your grave plays. Celeste would be 
the proper cat since Jenny Vertpre is not to 
be had. But suppose we don't engage Celeste. 
It must be anonymous — full of travesties & 
burlesques. What say you? This is for your 
own thought alone. Don't mention it even to 
Forster. 



E. L. B. 



I will read Sheridan's Remains. 



C 138 3 



TO MACREADY 

LXXVII 

January 7, 1841. 

My dear Macready: 

I am delighted that you prefer Cromwell — 
the other tho' containing a good character 
wanted lightness & brilliancy for a Comedy. 
In Cromwell, however, there are immense dif- 
ficulties which with time, thought & patience 
may be overcome. Those difficulties are the 
Creation of strong interest. I send you a rough 
sketch — Act 4 in it is the weakest. It would 
not do to begin till one has thoroughly ma- 
tured the Plot — & got one clear, living, per- 
vading interest. At present that connected with 
the daughter is not domestic eno', & her con- 
nection with Vane is too shadowy & subtle. 
Can we devise anything closer? Act 1 . 3. & 5 
as sent would have strong effect, but the per- 
vading interest of the whole is wanting. 

Shakespeare alone & he perhaps scarcely 
in the present day, can make History without 
love have universal & warm interest. Here, if 
we can connect a strong interest in the power 
& struggles of the . . . with some absolute 
tale or sympathy from first to last of the Dra- 

C *S9 D 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

matic kind — these should do very well. But 
the last is necessary . See well if from the Chaos 
I send anything can be struck & the cords 
round the heart drawn tighter. If not — it is best 
to abandon this Historical view altogether — 
& perhaps conceive a new plot of the time dis- 
tinct from History — in which Cromwell may 
appear as an Agent, but not embracing his 
death or his great historical struggles. — Riche- 
lieu is somewhat done in this way, tho' there 
the story happily connects him with real events 
& characters, & we have an absolute Episode 
in his life (in the packet) to work on — & this 
made the Art & Success of the play: — I could 
not commence this till I saw all the scenes 
before me like a map. I shall hope to hear the 
best possible news of the poor little patient. I 
have ordered Saunders to send Mrs. Macready 
a copy of my novel. With kind regards to her 
and Miss Macready & best & most heartfelt 
wishes for the season believe me 

Most truly y r f 

E. L. B. 

Are the Houses very bad? 

I have no copy of the enclosed. Could the 
Hay market have the mise en scene of Acts 3 & 
4? If I had "a Fool/' who could act it — Miss 
Horton would remind the audience too much 

C !40 ^ 



TO MACREADY 

of the Fool in Lear — tho' the character would 
be very different. Besides, my Fool would have 
strong biting power. He ought to be deformed 
& have a hump. He is a dog that snarls & 
bites — but has a Dog's heart full of love for his 
Master. I know if I could get the actor, that I 
could make him most effective to Cromwell. 
But there is not a man I can think of, to be 
both pathetic & humorous. 

Could Miss Horton be made to do? 

E. L. B. 



LXXVIII 



March, 1841. 

My dear Macready: 

Lady Morgan shewed the same design you 
so kindly sent me & I admired it extremely, 
so that I am peculiarly delighted to receive the 
drawing which I shall highly prize, nor the 
less so from having seen, I believe, the young 
Lady — with whose handsome face I was much 
struck. Pray present to her my best thanks, 

I 141 ] 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

& my sincere appreciation of the Compliment 
with which she has distinguished my work. 

I shall be most happy to dine with you, & 
hear your news which I hope turns on D. r Lane. 
I saw L d Lansdowne last night who s* he had 
fixed tomorrow for our Committee on Mrs. 
Siddons &c. — but c d . not tell me the place or 
Hour. 

Will you let me know ? 

Y: 

E. L. B. 



LXXIX 



105 Piccadilly. 
June, 1841. 

My dear Macready: 

It is, I find, quite hopeless to attempt getting 
yf brother under the gallery during the Want 
of Confidence discussion. Every place has been 
bespoken many days & you know that the 
accommodation for strangers is considerably 
curtailed this year. But I enclose him an order 
for the gallery, where, if he go early, he will 
be just as well off. I have left the date blank, 
& he may fill it up either for Tuesday or 

C 142 3 



TO MACREADY 

Thursday ( I have given away my order for 
Wednesday ). If the debate last 3 days, Thurs- 
day will be the best day. 

Y r 

E. L. B. 



LXXX 

July 24, 1 841. 

My dear Macready : 

I regret much that being absent from Town 
I cannot at present enjoy the opportunity of 
being introduced to M r . s Adams. 

I am shifting about at present from place to 
place — deep in Aristophanes & therefore little 
likely to be of any use. What a wonderful 
rascal he is. 

Yours ever 

E. L. B. 

Brighton — Friday 

My permanent address is always Fulham. 

I have read L'Ambitieux. Is it not sad stuff? 
Pray tell Forster, apropos of stuff, that his cri- 
tique made me read Miss Sedgwick's book, Le 

C 143 ] 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

Scelerat! Her book is not only waste paper, 
but what is worse — it ought only to be used 
as such — by Rogers! 



LXXXI 



Margate, 
Sunday, 

August 9, 1 84 1. 

My dear Macready: 

Forster told me you w? write to me about 
stratagems & plots. But your libido tacendi 
rivals that of the Philosopher in Juvenal. 

My researches on Athenian manners are 
carrying me thro' the whole range of antient 
comedy. Thereis nothing — but occasional wit- 
ticisms to be gleaned from Aristophanes — but 
I have just concluded the 6 Plays of Terence, 
observing what Steele has made from the 
Andrea in the Conscious Lovers. — I can't help 
thinking that a field is yet open. Phormio is 
capital, but there is no principal part for a high 
Comedian. What think you of the Heauton- 
timoroumenos ? It seems to me that something 
very striking might be adapted from that idea 



TO MACREADY 

— provided one could restore Menedemusthat 
weight & passion which he must evidently 
have had in the original of Menander. Just 
see the opening where he is described. How 
fine a picture it is — the old man pinching & 
slaving himself for his Son. In a modern para- 
phrase he might be drawn not of course as 
a penurious agriculturist, but a tricky mer- 
chant — seemingly a miser — all from the 
same passion — love & penitence about his 
son. 

The Courtezan, or rather hetaera Bacchis, 
would be a gay, dashing, extravagant widow, 
whose finery & expenses when introduced at 
the House of Chremes would be very droll. 
Chremes might be made a vain, curious, 
medling fellow — always thinking himself wise 
& always taken in — the Slave Tyrus should 
not be a servant ( for that is really foreign to 
our manners ) but a friend to the 2 young men, 
& might be made very droll & effective. But 
the difficulty is how to draw out Menedemus. 
He is a mere shadow in Terence & ought to 
be your Part. If you have time, just think of 
this. I shall go thro* Plautus by & by. But I 
have him not here. Are there any of his com- 
edies you could suggest? There are plenty 
of them. — Why won't you have Richelieu 

C 145 n 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

again ? I would not have let Webster have it to 
lay on the shelf. Shall I write to him? 
Adieu 

y: 

E. L. B. 

This is a most Enchanting Place — the Naples 
of England. 



LXXXII 



Margate, 

Wednesday, 

August 12, 1 84 1. 

My dear Macready : 

Many thanks for your note forwarded from 
Craven Cottage. I am delighted to find you 
have some notions about Walpole. — By far the 
best subject if the story can be made to inter- 
est. — I shall be in Town to-morrow & will 
look in at the Hay market after the play to see 
you. 

Perhaps you can then give me your rough 
ideas of Walpole. I shall be but few days in 
town. 

E. L. B. 

C 146 3 



TO MACREADY 



LXXXIII 



October 25, 1841. 

My dear Macready: 

I will dine with you on Friday with pleasure 
at 6 o'clock. With regard to the Comedy, I feel 
sure that I cannot see my way to it merely 
thro' the moral purpose w h you so well indi- 
cate. What I want more is a view of the more 
physical progress of Plot as in the outline you 
suggested of Money. There I saw at once the 
effective scenes of the opening of the will — 
of the supposed reverse — & the domestic sit- 
uation of Clara & Evelyn. In the play you sug- 
gest I see no scenes — & little comic situation 
— & I fear the Dialogue would be too much 
mixed with the politics of the day. What I 
should like most would be a Poetic Comedy 
that is a mixture of prose & blank verse as 
in The Lady of Lyons. With comic situations 
in Acts 1, 2, & 4 & grave in Acts 3 & 5 — I 
have so great an indisposition at this moment 
towards playwriting, that unless I can hit on 
something that would attract my fancy & ex- 
cite enthusiasm, I fear I shall never get on. 
I like the idea of glory. But beyond this idea 

C 147 J 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

all seems to me cloud & darkness. — The oper- 
atic play I wished to point out to you is Robin 
Hood — the story might be made wild, inter- 
esting &yet lively & comic at times. The scene 
& name are National & it has this one great 
advantage, that it would incorporate the early 
English National music lately published by 
Chapel. Thus it might be made a National 
Opera, without borrowing a single foreign 
air. — Think over this. 

Y r . s truly 

E. L. B. 

Puss in boots can't take a step. His boots are 
not 7 league ones. 



LXXXIV 



9 Pall Mall East, 
Saturday, 

November, 1841. 

My dear Macready: 

When do you come to town ? I am delighted 

at what I hear of your prospects at Drury 

Lane. 

Being seized with a profound disgust of both 

C 148 ] 



TO MACREADY 

parties in politics — with the one for playing 
at fast & loose with the Credit and Finances 
of the Country, by daring as responsible min- 
isters to leave them at the uncertain mercy of 
the 3 Party cries they call a Budget, & with 
the other side for not being either good eno' 
to support or bad eno* to excuse all measures 
that tend to keep them out — I turn once more 
to the Fair Life of the Ideal. Have you any idea 
for me? Will you give me any story or sketch 
for "The Public" A comedy — with Walpole 
for the hero ? I am thinking of the experiment 
of a comedy in verse ( Hexameter ) . Start not ! 
I think I see my way to great effects in it. It is 
the very diction for epigram & wit & its sud- 
denness as presented by an unexpected rhyme 
is dramatic & histrionic. But it would require 
rather an Artificial period like Walpole's and 
must be only adapted to the very highest school 
of Comedy. Give me a human interest & a good 
plot, and I promise you something sterling in 
that way. But I have no dramatic invention. 

What a delightful book is Fleury's Me- 
moirs The French Stage ! It is the Gil Bias of 
Biography. 

Adieu 

Y r . 

E. L. B. 

C 149 ] 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

LXXXV 

Fulham, 
Monday, 

February, 1842. 

My dear Macready: 
You, I am sure, will never impute to want of 
interest in your success that abstinence from 
the enjoyment of the Acis & Galatea & Gi- 
sippus, with which you kindly reproach me. 
Their complete triumph leaves me so easy on 
your account, that I repose under your laurels, 
and the vis inertiae which in this retreat weighs 
upon me of an evening, has kept me from all 
engagements I can avoid. — Moreover I have 
had a great accumulation of business etc., but 
I still hope to see both among my earliest 
recreations. And had either been doubtful, 
my anxiety would have carried me to the scene 
of treat long ago. In respect to anything from 
myself I roused my muse from an aversion 
She has taken to further Dramatic composi- 
tion, & essayed a Comedy, of which about one 
Act was composed when, tho' pretty good, I 
perceived it would not be striking & spark- 
ling eno', & dropped it. Since then I have often 
tried to invent a subject but in vain. I am sure, 

C 150 ] 



TO MACREADY 

however, that whenever your resources fail 
you, my zeal for you would refresh my inven- 
tion. But you seem so richly provided for, & 
the literary Ambition of Authors is so much 
directed now towards the story, that I do not 
feel any spur towards an effort which could 
but substitute one play for some other just as 
likely to succeed. I wrote first for the stage 
with the desire to set an example to others, 
& to serve you personally. Both these objects 
gained — my Fountain seems dried up, & its 
Nymph departed. 

Howbeit, whenever you or my own read- 
ing suggests a subject likely to be brilliant you 
will, no doubt, revive the old impulses. Mean- 
while I sympathize in the success of others 
& rejoice in the prosperity you so richly de- 
serve. 

Ever 

E. L. B. 



C *5i J 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

LXXXVI 

Craven Cottage, 

February 24, 1842. 

My dear Macready: 

I & Forster are going to see Gisippus Mon- 
day & will look in on you afterwards — when 
if you think anything of my idea, I shall be 
happy to dine with you some day of your fix- 
ing & discuss it. 

Ever y T . in haste 

E. L. B. 



LXXXVII 



St. James's, 
Charles St., 
Thursday, 

April 22, 1842. 

My dear Macready: 

I cannot tell you how grieved, sincerely and 
heartily, I am at the account I read this morn- 
ing, of thereception of" Plighted Troth." Tho' 
I never read the play, the outline of the story 

C 152 ] 



TO MACREADY 

struck me as one of prodigious power, and the 
extract you read, convinced me of the pres- 
ence of a thoro' and genuine Poet. I hope you 
will try it on, and that it may recover the 
effect of the First Night & I shall I trust be at 
the Theatre this Evening to judge for myself. 
Should I not see you, will you kindly do me 
the favour to say to the Author on my part, 
whatever you think may be received as the 
language of sympathy and encouragement. If 
I might venture allusion to myself, I would re- 
mind him of the fate of my best literary play, 
La Valliere — which did not present sufficient 
success on succeeding attempts to cheer on 
a man like the Author of Plighted Troth, in 
a path where he is, I am sure, able to achieve 
no ordinary triumphs. 

Ever yours truly 

E. L. B. 

Since writing the above I have been to D' 
Lane & was disappointed to find the play put 
off. 



C 153 H 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 
LXXXVIII 

April 26, 1842. 

My dear Macready: 

It would be ungrateful not to inform you of 
the success of your Costume.* It went off with 
real eclat. I flatter myself that the accessories 
tended to heighten the effect. In especial I made 
a great feature of the sword, for judging the 
handle too rugged for the dress, I availed my- 
self of a picture of the time to veil it in sword 
knots & drapery of Gold Lace round which 
was wreathed a chain of large Emeralds. I also 
took your hint about the chain for the cap, 
which was very good. I found the addition of 
a white & gold Embroidered Scarf with dia- 
monds in the loop so effective that I recommend 
it to you for the stage. 

So much for the reception of the Dress. 
I shall send it the first day I come to town, to 
Drury Lane & will youkindly desire the Tailor 
as I do not know his address, to send me in the 
acct. 

Y r . s truly 

E. L. B. 

* Bulwer borrowed the costume of Ruthven in Mary Stuart from Mac- 
ready for the Queen's fancy dress ball. 

C 154 3 



TO MACREADY 



Since writing the above I have received a re- 
quest to sit for a portrait in the dress. May 
I keep it a little time longer or shall you want 
it? — if the latter, perhaps you can lend it after 
your Season. 



LXXXIX 



Knebworth, 
Tuesday, 

July 19, 1842. 

My dear Macready: 

Tho' I do not think that Tragedy is to be esti- 
mated in its necessary attractions by the in- 
stances you would refer to, & I believe that a 
modern "Venice preserved " well acted would 
produce immense sensation & a continuous run , 
yet you say eno' on that subject to silence any 
suggestions of mine thereon. But with regard 
to Warwick I must set you right as to an error 
you seem to have made. The outline I gave 
you is precisely & literally according to the 
true History. 

The old notion that Warwick's quarrel with 
Edward was about the Princess Bona of Savoy 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

— as recorded by Hume, whose history of that 
reign is the very worst part of his work — 
is unanimously set aside by better Historians. 
The dispute arose, as I stated, in the marriage 
of Edward's Sister to the D. of Burgundy — 
despite the embassy of Warwick to France, & 
was finally ripened by an attempt of Edward 
on a female relation of Warwick's. ( See Hall's 
Chronicle. ) This girl was supposed to be Isa- 
bel married to Clarence. But that could not be, 
for she was already wed to Clarence & not at 
the Court. It must either have been Anne or a 
niece of Warwick's — daughter to his brother 
Montagu. I have adhered exactly to the true 
History. The introduction of Shakespeare's 
very poor Sketch of Warwick, which has not 
a single trait of character, I think very imma- 
terial. The splendour, the pride, the frankness, 
the passion of the stout Earl, ought to make 
a very distinct Portraiture. And the extreme 
love he had at first to Edward, succeeded by 
so fierce a hate, might be eminently touching. 
But, as this subject must be all buskin — high 
& gorgeous Tragedy alone, having thus vin- 
dicated my Historical accuracy — I leave it 
among the Embryos. 

I meant to say zyear for The Lady of Lyons, 
that is from January 1 5 th to January 1 5 th 
£ 156 J 



TO MACREADY 

The sole thing left to think on is a pure 
comedy that might have some touches of pathos 
allied with humour. 

Waste no time on The Illomened Marriage. 
What I feel about the success of any play of 
mine is this: — that, if it does succeed, its run 
would be greater than that of any less known 
writer (there being a prestige in these mat- 
ters) whose work had equal merit. But that 
if it fail, its failure would be more complete. 
And in this — all depends upon the concep- 
tion or plot. I have no fear as to the execution 
of the Play, provided the subject is popular & 
original. And so the Muses inspire your in- 
vention. 

Truly y r . s 

E. L. B. 



xc 



6 Hertford St., 
May fair, 

February 22, 1843. 

My dear Macready: 

Will you send me au plutot Dumas' Comedy 

c 157 1 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

Marriage sous Louis XV which I lent you. 
In, I think, Act II, there is a scene I propose 
to borrow from — where the Husband finding 
the Lover & wife, tells them his position, & 
when one of them asks him — What did the 
Husband do — answers, "took up his hat & 
left them." Do you think you could make much 
of that position, if so I propose to place it in 
Act II of my own play. I am getting on, but 
have rewritten over & over again. However 
I hope in about 10 days to have a considera- 
ble portion to shew you. I think I see 2 very 
strong positions Acts 3 & 4- Some pleasant 
comedy — & a character for you, that tho' not 
very remarkable in itself, will carry the gen- 
eral sympathy with it & from its position have 
scope for fine acting — My eye is on Stage 
success as I write. 

I expect there will be 2 capital parts for 
Keeley & Miss Faucit. 

Y? truly 

E. L. B. 

Just returned from Brighton. 1000 thanks for 
your kind inquiries. 



C 158 1 



TO MACREADY 



XCI 



Craven Cottage, 
Fulham, 

April 5, 1843. 

My dear M.: 

I send you the 4 Acts, if they don't do, the 
5* will be useless; if they do, the 5 l . h must be 
well talked over. 

The title I suggested will hardly suit. 
Let me know your opinion au plutot. 

Y! 

E. L. B. 



xcn 



Craven Cottage, 
Tuesday, 

1843. 

My dear Macready: 

I am unfortunately obliged to ask you to ex- 
cuse me on Saturday. I had calculated on re- 
turning from a visit to Lord Cowper's on Fri- 
day, but I have just had a letter that renders 
C i&9 ] 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

it uncertain whether I shall not be positively 
obliged to stay over Saturday. So that it will 
be better to defer our Meeting till some, I trust, 
very Early opportunity. As it was to be a tete- 
a-tete or nearly so, I have the less scruple in 
drawing on your Indulgence. 

Yours most truly 

E. L. B. 



xcin 



Great Malvern, 
Worcestershire, 
June 29, 1844. 

My dear Macready: 

Your kind letter gave me real pleasure, per- 
haps the more so because I had given up all 
hope of hearing from you. You greatly indeed 
underrate my interest in your career, if you 
suppose that under any circumstances I should 
not have been unfeignedly glad to hear from 
yourself, some account not only of your tri- 
umph, the fame of which finds other trum- 
peters, but of your health and prospects ; your 
views of the United States are such as I should 

1 160 : 



TO MACREADY 



have predicted. O'Connell once tauntingly 
complained that his conduct in struggling for 
a great people was viewed with the eye of a 
Master of the Ceremonies. With more justice 
may the young Titan of a Republic complain 
that almost every tourist has spoken of it in the 
mincing criticism with which a Dancing Mas- 
ter might favour the Farnese Hercules. They 
cannot screw its vigorous feet forever on the 
upward way into the affected grace of the 5th 
position. The last thing into which a manly 
& intelligent observer in examining America 
should search is the outward conventionality. 
He must mass together all the large facts con- 
nected with the greatest experiment in Gov- 
ernment, since Greece shook off her brilliant 
tyrannies, and solve the problems of her sur- 
passing energy — her public spirit — & her 
rushing progress. Of manners the English- 
man is usually the most prejudiced judge. If 
he prefers his own to the Frenchman's, it is no 
wonder that he is vulgarly sensitive to vul- 
garity in the American. The wonder rather is 
that in a People without a court, without an 
idle Aristocracy, engaged thro' all its classes 
in anxious commerce &the rough strife of per- 
sonal interest and political passions — the won- 
der rather is, that so much civility to strangers, 

C 16O 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

so much courtesy to women, so forbearing 
an usage of legal equality — are the character- 
istics of the Population. The only points in 
which it appears to me the Americans are fairly 
exposed to censure are in their capricious and 
uncertain morality, which so often sinks char- 
acter in success — their indulgence to "a smart 
man/' & in that debasing appetite for slander 
& abuse without which their Press would long 
since have been reformed. The last has always 
been the character of Democracies — & doubt- 
less the worst American paper is less calumni- 
ous than Aristophanes — the former is perhaps 
also a necessary consequence of the Trading 
spirit. By degrees the Americans may purify 
themselves of these blots, but in gaining 
some of the good qualities of an old coun- 
try, they may lose much of the vigorous attri- 
butes of a new. Your letter which arrived two 
days ago, finds me under the Hydropathic 
Treatment. My painful & intense anxiety for 
some months, ending in the crushing grief, 
for the loss of my nearest & dearest friend, 
seemed to shatter into pieces a constitution 
never very robust. At last, finding all other 
means in vain, I came hither — anticipating 
more benefit from an entire and abrupt change 
of all my habits, than from the salutary tor- 



TO MACREADY 

tures of wet sheets & mountainous blankets. 
Whether from the one or the other cause, I 
have derived great benefit from the water cure 
— tho' as yet in my novitiate I have been less 
than 3 weeks, & propose staying another 
month. — Some time in September I shall go 
abroad for the winter. But I hope to shake you 
by the hand with a hearty welcome before I 
depart. — All theatrical news you have doubt- 
less rec* from Forster & others, better versed 
in the Mimic world than I am. — I began at 
St. Leonards something for your return, but 
spirits & subject failed together. My idea was 
Harold, the last Saxon King, and I still think 
a most striking & impressive Drama might be 
worked out from his History & his Saxon qual- 
ities, by one quite up to the work. Which I am 
not. I heard somewhere that you were likely 
to go to Paris. Is it so? — I have lived quite 
out of the world for many months, & have 
nothing to communicate of its toil & turmoil. 
The Americans are never likely, I suspect, to 
find me upon their shores. The report circu- 
lated in their newspapers is without founda- 
tion. Me, the New World with its active hopes, 
has ceased to allure tho' not to interest. — I 
love more the holy day indolence, & dreamy 
reserves which the contemplation of States 
C 163 ] 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

in which the Volcano is expended serves to 
nourish. At certain stages of life the Past has 
more delight for us than the Future. The crea- 
tive Faculty, which is one with the true ideal, 
does not invent — it only re-creates. What can 
the imagination do to present before us and 
clothe with living interest the generations that 
may hereafter people the Alabona? But the 
Poet & the Artist find their element in things 
that have been, & in Egypt, Greece, & Italy 
— we can bid the Dead live again. While we 
are practical men, Oeconomists, & Politicians, 
America attracts us when we sink back into the 
second youth of Idealism — we prefer the old 
Titans to the new. — Adieu my dear Macready. 

Vive, vale sis memor mei. 

E. B. L. 



xciv 



Knebworth, 
October 7, 1845, 



My dear Macready: 

I am truly glad that your letter has served to 

remove any incomprehensible misunderstand- 

C 164 3 



TO MACREADY 

ing between us. In this Shallow Stream of life, 
there are constantly weeds and stones which 
fret the surface — we do well not to interrupt 
& chafe the current by hindrances of our own. 
Believe me I have never ceased for a moment 
to admire & esteem you — to value your friend- 
ship & feel a lively interest in your fortunes & 
career. I rejoice that you are going to appear 
again in Town. With you rests our Drama — & 
better things may come out of your return to 
us. With kindest regards to Mrs. Macready 
Most truly y r . s 

E. B. Lytton. 



xcv 



36 Hertford St., 
December 6, 1845. 

My dear Macready: 

I called on you coming to town en route for 
Paris, & had the mortification to find you flown 
to Dublin. I wanted more especially a word or 
two with you on Dramatic subjects. 

I shall have some leisure on my hands dur- 
ing my stay abroad, and if it can be employed 
C 165 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

with any advantage to you — the profit thereof 
will be doubly agreeable to myself. I have 
long had a belief that Sophocles almost purely 
& entirely in his own classic simplicity may be 
put on the stage. 

And the success of Antigone confirms my 
notion. What say you to the Oedipus (Ty- 
rannus). 

It was always the great histrionic part on the 
Athenian Stage, & is the most thrilling of the 
Greek Dramas, & I fancy it will succeed with 
us. Not a french Oedipe — but the old Drama, 
with Chorus & all as in the Antigone. In many 
parts literally translated, but in verse — and in 
short the original as much adhered to as pos- 
sible. It will require the adjunct of fine music, 
but that can be obtained, either from English 
or German composers. I would not begin it, 
it is true, unless you see, which you probably 
do not, your way to purchase & represent it 
— unless indeed it were a partial engagement 
to purchase it — tho I should be quite willing 
in your case to let half the purchase money be 
contingent on the run as it is an experiment 
to both. 

I leave England on Wednesday after Post 
time. There is great time for me to have a 
yes or no, and if the former to look out the 
C 166 ] 



TO MACREADY 

necessary books to take with me. — If it does 
not press you too much to answer this by 
return of Post. 

If you don't write so immediately, you must 
then direct Poste restante Paris. Concluding 
the business part of the arrangement, suppos- 
ing the price be 600 =£. I should be satisfied 
with half on completing the Drama — & the 
rest according to the run. If you dislike this 
idea, I own I have no other in my head but 
should be happy to receive any hints. 

What are your plans and projects? I hear 
nothing of them. 

Adieu 

Most truly y rs 

E. B. L. 



XCVI 



Rome, 

March 3, 1846. 

My dear Macready: 
Many thanks for your kind & friendly note 
which I have only just received & which I 
answer in haste. 

C 167 ] 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

I was not aware of the groundless rumour 
you mention, — as I seldom see a paper & it 
was not alluded to in my letters from Eng- 
land. Except in one from Forster who im- 
plied rather his own suspicion — than men- 
tioned any serious report. I have only seen 
the first part of the New Timon which was 
sent to me a day or two before I left Eng- 
land — but since your letter implies that it is 
no very creditable production, I am at a loss 
to know why Forster should pay me so bad 
a compliment. — Long eno', I dare say, before 
one's friends would suspect one of anything 
good! — I should feel much obliged if you 
would use my distinct & most positive author- 
ization to contradict the report, wherever you 
deem it necessary. I wrote to Forster some 
time ago about my adaptation of the Oedipus, 
Mercadante having promised to write the 
music for the Choruses etc. — But I conclude 
from your letter, that you are not in a condi- 
tion to think of such matters. 

I am most truly concerned for the State of 
the Stage in England — & for your own im- 
perfect connexion with it at this moment. — 
It is a disgrace to the Country that things 
should be so. 

On my return to England I shall try & see 
C 168 ] 



TO MACREADY 



you & discuss matters — I have an idea that 
a Company of gentlemen would agree in tak- 
ing a suitable Theatre & placing it at your 
disposal — I should have little fear of the risk. 

Nous en parlerons — 

I came to Italy in a vague half-formed no- 
tion of selecting one of its cities for an habit- 
ual winter residence. I dismiss that illusion, 
my second visit has cured me of the enervat- 
ing effects of the First. 

I hope to be in London in little more than 
a month. With kindest regards to Mrs. Mac- 
ready, 

Adieu. 

Truly yours, 

E. B. Lytton. 



xcvn 



19 James St., 
Saturday, 

May 24, 1846. 

My dear M. 

I congratulate you heartily on your new tri- 
umph in The King of the Commons which I 
shall come to see next week. I have been 
i: 16 9 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

wanting to get to you, but cruel business and 
much absence from Town have prevented it. 
— Forster has my Oedipus, & I wish much 
that you should see it as soon as you can, for I 
have little doubt that the great success of the 
same attempt at Berlin will add to the effect of 
the Play if brought out forthwith, while if there 
is much delay, we shall be surely forestalled. 
Y* in haste, 

E. B. L. 



XCVIII 



James St., 
Saturday, 
May 22, 1847. 

My dear Macready: 

I got your note yesterday — it was returned 
from Malvern which I had left suddenly on 
urgent business. — I am obliged to run down 
to Kneb. but I shall be back Monday & de- 
lighted to see you on Tuesday if I can come 
in the Evening — mornings being occupied. I 
am rejoiced to find you engaged & cheerful. 

In desperate haste, y rs 

E. B. L. 

[ 170 ] 



TO MACREADY 



XCIX 



Haymarket, 
April 27, 1848. 

My dear Macready: 

I send you the "Sylvia" you were good eno' 

to lend me some time since. 

I am most grieved to hear that Mrs. Mac- 
ready has been long ill. I trust to have better 
reports of her soon. 

I too have been much distressed by the long 
illness of my daughter. 

Y r . s most truly 

E. B. Lytton. 



No. 1 Park Lane, 
April 27, 1848. 

My dear Macready: 

I was delighted to see your handwriting again 
& to engage you in anything away from 
mournful thoughts, tho' you convey a sad in- 
telligence about your son. I have known Ma- 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

deira effect such permanent cures in consump- 
tive cases that I am very sanguine of your 
son's complete restoration. "The spirits I have 
raised " I have no time to consult further, but 
I don't think their noises, if they make them, 
are conveyed thro' material that is substantial 
means but thro' electric or other fluid — which 
might telegraph from a great distance. I am 
now in for the theme' of C — . What a life of 
evil passions & wearing drudgery ! I repent of 
my whistle. If I can do anything in it I know 
not — if so, it will be with force and labour, & 
agst the grain. — 

The sun for the first time shone in at my 
windows, but London smiles not — I detest it. 

"O for a lodge in some vast wilderness." 

I don't know if we should quite agree about 
education. But tho' I would grant the utmost 
liberty to all sects, I would not have gov! con- 
tribute to any education that excludes some 
religious culture. I never was better in the 
hour of temptation for what is called know- 
ledge, but I have been saved from some sins 
by the Childlike habit of prayer. And there- 
fore I suppose others must be like me. 
Ever my dear friend 

Y! affi friend 

E. B. L. 



TO MACREADY 

Saturday. I see nothing of Forster. He is so 
political that he always says something to hurt 
one's feelings. 



ci 



Leominster, 

December 16, 1848. 

My dear Macready: 
I have already written to you on the points 
named in yours — received to-day. I hasten 
to repeat the purport of my replies. 

ll You never, directly or indirectly thro' 
yourself or others, expressed any wish what- 
soever that M' Forrest should not perform 
in any play of mine, & it would have been so 
unlike you to have sought to influence me on 
such a point, that I should have disbelieved 
any one, who ventured to report to me that 
you had the least disinclination to M' Forrest's 
taking a part in my plays. 

2" d You never had any communication di- 
rect or indirect with me or any agent of mine 



C !73 ] 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

respecting any application from M r . Forrest to 
act in my plays. 

3 rd . ly I not only do not believe you capable 
of any interference to the prejudice of the in- 
terests of another Actor upon such a point. 
But from a long & intimate acquaintance with 
you I should have considered it an insult to 
you, to have even asked you if you could 
object to any actor performing your parts in 
my plays: It is a proof indeed of that, — that 
I have always unhesitatingly given permission 
to M r . Kean to play Claude Melnotte, even at 
a time when it might be thought that he pitted 
that performance against your own. 

Furthermore, according to the printed state- 
ment from the Boston Mail, Oct. 30*, it seems 
that I did accord to M' Forrest the permission 
to act the part of Richelieu & Claude Melnotte, 
for a less sum than I was, & still am, in the 
habit of receiving for them at a London The- 
atre — & a less sum than I should have asked 
from any manager with whom you yourself 
were engaged — viz 80 guineas for 40 nights, 
that is for a full season. My usual terms would 
be ioo g . s & you know well that my reason for 
claiming pecuniary terms for the performance 
of my plays, no matter who the actors, is to 
set the example of enforcing my own act of 

C 174 3 



TO MACREADY 

Act of Parliament, for the benefit of poorer 
Dramatic Authors than myself. I am in the 
usual habit of leaving it to some friend of lit- 
erary station & not to a mere agent to fix the 
terms, & I have little doubt but that as appears 
by the Boston Mail that the plays were offered 
to M r . Forrest upon more favourable terms than 
to an English actor, in order that as an Ameri- 
can, he might have full chance of any benefit 
they could bring him. 

The sum may seem high in America. But 
for performances fewer in number than 40 
nights I shall receive this year a much larger 
sum from M r . Phelps as the Manager of a mi- 
nor Metropolitan Theatre. 

To the best of my recollection, at the time 
to which this matter refers, we were not in any 
personal intercourse with each other. 

I have that confidence in the American Pub- 
lic, that I feel perfectly persuaded it will rally 
round you, with regret & even shame at so 
unworthy a calumny from a part of its popu- 
lation — unhappily misled — I can conceive that 
your high sense of honour may be wounded 
at the mere suspicion of practices so foreign to 
your nature. In England the injustice of such 
attacks seems as ludicrously glaring, as if 
we had heard a report that the Duke of Well- 

C 175 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

ington had been broken for cowardice or the 
Archbishop of Canterbury sent to the Tread- 
mill for picking pockets. 

Your letter found me in the bustle of a parlia- 
mentary canvass — & you will excuse so hasty 
a scrawl from your sincere friend & brother 
Artist 

E. B. L. 

# Sir E . Bulwer Ly tton in reply to my direct question . 

W. C. M. 



en 

August i, 1854. 

My dear Macready: 
Ml Saunders, who some years ago published 
a few poems of remarkable sweetness & pro- 
mise, has now written a play with the view of 
representation. Would you do me the great 
favour to look over it & to tell him frankly I s .' 
how far you think the play itself would do on 
the stage & next if you think it shows those 
attributes which ( even supposing the play were 
not likely to tell with an audience) should 

This note was written by Macready. 

: 1763 



TO MACREADY 

induce him to continue the cultivation of the 
Dramatic Art. 

I believe that he desires a candid opinion 
from a competent Authority — & there is cer- 
tainly no Man living whose authority on such 
a point is equal to your own. 

Y r . s Most truly 

E. B. Lytton. 



cm 



Knebworth, 

Stevenage, Herts. 
August 21, 1863. 

My dear Macready: 

It is very long since we met & it would give 

me no small pleasure to see you again. 

Can I tempt you & Mrs. Macready ( whose 
acquaintance it seems to me I have a kind of 
right to make in my long friendship with your- 
self) to pay me a visit here for some days ?I ex- 
pect to be at Knebworth from now throughout 
the entire part of Sept r . You will find no party 
but one or two friends and a cordial welcome. 

I think you have one new addition to your 

C 177 H 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

family, if not more — whom this invitation will 
include. 

Believe me ever 

Y r . s truly 

E. B. Lytton. 



civ 



Kneb. 

July 27, 1866. 

My dear Macready: 

I am grieved to think that there is so little 

chance of my seeing you here. 

I need not say how heartily any little inter- 
est I may have will be at your service for 
M r . Spenser. But I am at this moment pre- 
vented asking Sir Pakington for a nomina- 
tion. The fact is that the very moment our 
party came into power I was beset by Claim- 
ants among Constituents etc. I have asked for 
their nominations at the various departments, 
till I can ask no more. 

I have noted M r . Spenser's name as the first 
on my reserved List whenever I can deco- 
rously apply. But as you say this is his last 

c 178 n 



TO MACREADY 

year as to the requisite Age, it may be wise 
to apply to any other Conservative legislator 
you know and it may be well to observe that 
a Member of the House of Commons has much 
more influence than a peer in obtaining these 
nominations. 

Of course you are aware that the person 
nominated has to undergo competitive Ex- 
aminations. 

Believe me Most truly y r . s 

Lytton. 



cv 



Thursday night, 

November 19, 1866. 

My dear Friend: 

Your most interesting and manly letter gave 
me that kind of melancholy pleasure with 
which we admire the fortitude of a friend 
under affliction. And I sincerely believe as well 
as trust that time will gradually soften all sorts 
of privation into that holy alliance between 
present, past and future which the hopes that 
we cherish insensibly cement. 

C 179 3 



LETTERS OF BULWER-LYTTON 

I have had here lately some of the Ameri- 
can seers of whom you may have heard or 
read and who profess to be the mediums of 
communication between us and the spiritual 
world , thro' the medium of knocking or sounds. 
The phenomenon exhibited would have in- 
terested you. There is no deception, I am con- 
vinced, in the fact of the sounds being made 
without any known human or material agency 
— and these sounds reply to the Alphabet so 
as to produce an intelligible conversation with 
some thing or some being invisible. The conver- 
sations themselves so far as I have witnessed 
and participated are not, however, correspond- 
ent with our exalted notions of spiritual inter- 
course. Two or three predictions have been 
made to me and dates specified. I shall see 
if they will be verified. But my researches 
have lately occupied a very interesting ground 
viz : inquiring into the vestiges of Antient 
Magic & the old world belief in spirits, etc. I 
have convinced myself that there are in some 
organizations powers not to be accounted for 
by the senses, — and that in short there are 
more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, etc. 
Perhaps you will think from this that I am 
letting my fancy run very wild. But I have 
guarded myself against all tendencies to take 
Z 180 ] 



TO MACREADY 

any marvellous effect without strong evidence 
— And I must also add that with phenomena 
the most startling — much that is contradic- 
tory & fallacious is constantly found so far as 
I have gone. It is but peeps thro* the Blanket 
of the Dark. I look with distaste and reluc- 
tance to Politics & Pari! And my final position 
in the change of parties will be painful. If you 
come to town you will find me in trouble one 
of the Lone. 

I suppose my little godson is thriving. Kiss 
him for me. 

Adieu my dear friend. 

God preserve and comfort you. 
Y r . s ever 

E. B. L. 



One Hundred Copies printed in October, 1911, by 
D. B. Updike, at The Merrymount Press, Boston 



vm e i9i i 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 

JAN 9 '■ 



